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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-FIFTH DAY--TUESDAY, January 28, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
Congress met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Dashiell.
Congress then resolved itself into secret session.
SECRET SESSION.
Congress being in secret session,
Mr. Perkins moved to reconsider the vote on the passage of a resolution, calling upon the Secretary of War to submit an estimate for the payment of James Lyons and Sydney S. Baxter, for services rendered the Government in examining prisoners confined in the city of Richmond.
The Chair presented a communication from the Secretary of War in response to a resolution of the Congress, calling upon him to submit an estimate for the payment of James Lyons and Sydney S. Baxter, etc.; which was read and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Davidson presented a memorial; which was referred to the Committee on Postal Affairs, without being read.
Mr. Venable offered
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A resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the expediency of reporting a bill for the immediate organization of the militia of the Confederate States;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Currin introduced
A bill making appropriations for the payment of certain interest due, severally, to the banks at Memphis, on advances made by them to Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, for the benefit of the public service;
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Also, a bill to provide for the appointment of assistant adjutants-general and aids-de-camp by colonels of regiments assigned to the command of brigades and to prescribe their compensation, and for other purposes; which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Brockenbrough offered
A resolution instructing the Committee on Printing to report a bill making provision for the publication of the Laws of the Provisional Congress;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Staples introduced
A resolution to pay James Lyons and Sydney S. Baxter for certain services rendered the Government;
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Brockenbrough offered
A resolution instructing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire into the expediency of increasing the salary of the law clerk of the Department of Justice;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Barnwell, from the Committee on Finance, to whom was referred a resolution relative to assistance to the State of Kentucky, reported and recommended the passage of
A bill to aid the State of Kentucky, and for other purposes;
which was read first and second times, engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Crawford, from the Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred
A bill to repeal the act approved February 25, 1861, to declare and establish the free navigation of the Mississippi River,
reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the bill lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred
A bill to provide for drawing jurors in criminal cases,
reported the same back and recommended its passage.
On motion of Mr. Monroe, the bill was placed on the Calendar and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A bill to amend an act entitled "An act supplementary to an act to establish the judicial courts of the Confederate States of America, approved May twenty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-one,"
reported the same back, with the recommendation that it pass with an amendment.
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And the question being upon agreeing to the amendment, which was to strike out the whole of the original bill and to insert in lieu thereof the following, to wit:
The Congress of the Confederate States do enact, That the first section of the above-entitled act be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and to the end that the causes mentioned in said first section of the act to which this act is an amendment may be brought to trial without unnecessary expense and delay, it shall be lawful for the judges of the several district courts to interchange with each other temporarily, and the judge whose interest in, or connection with, the causes aforesaid pending in the district court in which he presides renders him incompetent to try such causes, shall request such interchange with the judge of an adjoining district, and the judge so requested shall, without delay, enter upon such interchange; and the acts and decisions of judges so presiding by interchange with each other shall be as valid as if done and performed in the districts for which they were severally appointed.
The vote was taken, and the amendment was agreed to.
And the bill as amended was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A bill for the protection of loyal citizens who have destroyed their property to prevent its capture by the enemy,
reported the same back, with the recommendation that it pass with an amendment.
On motion of Mr. Orr, the bill and amendment were placed on the Calendar.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A bill to amend an act to provide for the safe custody, printing, and publication of the laws, and to provide for the appointment of an additional clerk in the Department of Justice, approved August 5, 1861,
reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the bill lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A bill explanatory of the appropriation for removal of the seat of government,
reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the bill lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred
A bill to amend an act to provide for the public defense, approved March 6, 1861,
reported the same back and recommended its passage.
The bill was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Executive Department,
Richmond, January 28, 1862.
Mr. President: The President on yesterday approved and signed
An act to appropriate $850,000 to pay for ordnance, ordnance stores, and equipments;
An act to establish an assay office at New Orleans;
An act to authorize the change of the names of vessels in certain cases;
An act to provide for recruiting companies now in the service of the Confederate States for twelve months; and
An act for the relief of the State of Missouri.
ROBERT JOSSELYN,
Private Secretary.
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Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred a resolution of instruction to report a bill to provide for the appointment of adjutants, commissaries, etc., from the ranks, reported the same back, that the present legislation on the subject, in the opinion of the committee, was sufficient, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the resolution lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A resolution relating to furnishing the Army with gloves, reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the resolution lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A bill to authorize the Secretary of War to audit and settle the claims of assistant quartermasters, commissaries, and surgeons for services before receiving their appointments by the Confederate States, reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the bill lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to whom was referred joint resolutions of the legislature of Alabama in relation to the increase of the pay of private soldiers, reported the same back, asked to be discharged from their further consideration, and that the resolutions lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Avery, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred
A bill to provide for the organization of troops into brigades, and the appointment of brigadier-generals,
reported the same back, with the recommendation that it do not pass.
On motion, the bill was placed on the Calendar.
Mr. Ward, from the same committee, to whom was referred certain resolutions of the legislature of Florida on the subject of raising troops for the Confederate service, reported that inasmuch as the legislation of Congress covered the subject the committee asked to be discharged from their further consideration and that the resolutions lie on the table; which was agreed to.
Mr. Pryor, from the same committee, reported
A bill to authorize the President to raise four battalions of pontoniers and to appoint topographical officers;
which was read first and second times and placed on the Calendar.
Mr. Brooke, from the Committee on Patents, reported the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That three hundred copies of the report of the Commissioner of Patents be printed, to be paid for out of the patent fund, fifty of which shall be retained in the office of the Commissioner of Patents, one hundred to be delivered to the present Congress, and one hundred and fifty to the Congress under the Permanent Constitution.
Also,
A resolution to amend a clerical error in the enrollment of an act passed at this session, entitled "An act to amend 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 May 21, 1861;
which was read first and second times, engrossed, read third time, and passed.
Also, a bill to increase the salary of the recording clerks in the Patent Office; which was read first and second times and placed on the Calendar and ordered to be printed.
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On motion of Mr. Curry, Congress then resolved itself into executive session; and having spent some time therein, again resolved itself into legislative session.
On motion of Mr. Pryor, the in junction of secrecy was removed from
A bill to amend an act to raise an additional force to serve during the war, approved May 8, 1861.
Mr. De Witt, by general consent, offered some papers referring to the claim of C. Apple; which were referred to the Committee on Claims, without being read.
Congress then proceeded to the consideration of the unfinished business of yesterday; which was the consideration of the motion of Mr. Toombs to strike out all but the last sentence of the first section of a bill to amend the sequestration act, etc.
Mr. Monroe moved to amend by striking out in the first section the words "are hereby declared confiscated, except so far as the same are hereafter excepted by this act. and all such property shall on rendition of the decree of confiscation be sold as" and to insert in lieu thereof the words "shall be collected and sold as," and to strike out the words
but nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the sale of any mere indebtedness by chose in action to any alien enemy embraced by this act or the one to which it is amendatory,
And to insert in lieu thereof the following words, to wit:
but in no case shall a debt or other chose in action be sold.
On motion of Mr. Brooke,
Congress adjourned until 12 o'clock m. to-morrow.
EXECUTIVE SESSION.
Congress being in executive session,
The Chair presented to the Congress the following communication from the President:
Richmond, January 28, 1862.
To the President of the Congress of the Confederate States:
I ask leave to withdraw the nomination of Joseph E. Lindsay, of North Carolina, to be an assistant surgeon in the Navy, and to substitute in lieu of it the nomination of James E. Lindsay, of North Carolina, late an assistant surgeon in the United States Navy, the latter being the correct name of the person intended to be nominated.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
The request was agreed to, and the nomination referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.
Mr. Hale, from Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred sundry nominations of officers in the Provisional Army from Arkansas, reported back the same, and recommended the confirmation of the following officers in Arkansas regiments, viz:
The report was concurred in, and Congress advised and consented to the same.
Mr. Hale, from Committee on Military Affairs, to which had been referred nominations of officers of troops for Alabama regiments, also
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for Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas troops, reported back the same, with the recommendation that the nominations be confirmed.
The report was agreed to, and Congress advised and consented to the nominations.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to which was referred the communication of the President of the 24th January, submitting a list of nominations for the Corps of Artillery in the Army of the Confederate States, reported the same back, with the recommendation that Congress advise and consent to said nominations; which was agreed to, and the nominations were confirmed.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to which had been referred another communication of the President of the 24th January, nominating officers in the Corps of Infantry of the Army of the Confederate States, reported back the same and recommended the confirmation of all but D. H. Todd, of Louisiana, first lieutenant.
The report was agreed to, Congress advising and consenting to the same as recommended.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, to which had been referred the nomination of Lucius B. Northrop as Commissary-General and Samuel P. Moore as Surgeon-General, reported the same back, with the recommendation that they be confirmed, and asked that the report lie upon the table; which was agreed to.
On motion of Mr. Johnson of Arkansas,
Congress resumed legislative session.
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