| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --SIXTY-FIRST DAY--TUESDAY, February 4, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
Congress met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Daggett.
Congress then resolved itself into secret session.
SECRET SESSION.
Congress being in secret session,
Mr. Crawford offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That the members-elect to the Congress under the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States be invited to seats on the floor during the sessions of the Provisional Congress under the same injunction resting upon members as to secrecy to be by them observed.
On motion of Mr. Barnwell, the further consideration of the resolution was postponed until Monday next.
Congress then proceeded to the consideration of the unfinished business of the morning hour; which was the consideration of the motion of Mr. Perkins to refer to the Committee on Claims
A bill providing compensation to Sydney S. Baxter for certain services therein named.
And the vote having been taken thereon, the motion was agreed to.
Mr. Staples moved to reconsider the vote just taken.
The motion to reconsider prevailed.
Mr. Perkins moved to lay the bill on the table, on which motion Mr. Campbell, at the instance of the State of Mississippi, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
Page 752 | Page image
Yea: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, 4.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Virginia, 7.
Divided: Mississippi and South Carolina, 2.
So the motion to lay on the table did not prevail.
The bill was then engrossed, read a third time, and the question being upon the passage of the same,
Mr. Toombs, at the instance of the State of Georgia, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Virginia, 6.
Page 753 | Page image
Nay: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, 6.
Divided: Arkansas, 1.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on the Judiciary, reported
A bill to prohibit officers, agents, and members of Congress from making Government contracts;
which was read first and second times and placed on the Calendar and ordered to be printed.
On motion of Mr. Johnson of Arkansas, 100 copies extra of the reports of the various battles were ordered to be printed.
Mr. Conrad, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, reported and recommended the passage of
A bill to amend an act entitled "An act to amend an act to provide for the organization of the Navy, approved March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one," and an act entitled "An act to [authorize the President to] confer temporary rank and command on officers of the Navy doing duty with troops," approved December 24, 1861;
which was read first and second times, engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred
A resolution of inquiry as to what legislation was necessary to enable the Secretary of War to furnish our soldiers, prisoners of war, with clothing,
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 Committee on Military Affairs, made the following report; which was read and laid on the table, and is as follows, to wit:
The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred a resolution directing them to inquire and report whether brigadier-generals of the Provisional Army are officers of the Confederate States, generally independent of any particular command, or whether their offices terminate when the regiments composing their brigades are disbanded, have had the same under consideration and instruct me to report that brigadier-generals in the Provisional Army are not officers, generally, independent of any particular command, but on the contrary, under the provisions of the sixth section of the act of March 6, 1861, it is the duty of the President to organize regiments into brigades when the public service so requires; and whenever brigades are so organized he shall appoint brigadier-generals to command them, subject to the confirmation of Congress; and the brigadier-generals so appointed shall hold their offices only so long as their respective brigades continue in service.
Respectfully submitted.
S. F. HALE, Chairman.
Mr. Hale, from the same committee, reported back and recommended the passage of
A bill to amend an act to provide for local defense and special service.
Mr. Wigfall moved to amend the same by adding at the end thereof the following proviso, to wit:
Provided, That the troops raised under this bill shall not be accepted for less than three years or the war.
On motion of Mr. Waul, the bill and proviso were ordered to be printed.
Mr. Conrad moved that the Congress proceed to the consideration of a bill passed by the Congress and returned with an Executive veto,
Page 754 | Page image
to encourage the manufacture of gunpowder, saltpeter, and small arms within the Confederate States.
On motion of Mr. Harris of Mississippi, the further consideration of the same was postponed for the present.
Congress proceeded to the consideration of the special order of the day.
The question being on the motion of Mr. Russell to amend the amendment of Mr. Smith of Alabama to the second section of the bill,
Mr. Smith modified his amendment so as to read as follows, viz:
That all money realized under this act and the act to which it is an amendment shall be applied to the equal indemnity of all persons loyal citizens of the Confederate States, or persons aiding the same in the present war, who have suffered or may hereafter suffer loss or damage by confiscation by the Government of the United States, or any State government, or pretended government acknowledging and aiding the Government of the United States in this war, or by the seizure or capture or wanton and malicious destruction of private property of such persons on land, or by the capture or detention of slaves by the military or civil authorities. And all money realized as aforesaid shall be paid into the Treasury of said Confederate States, as provided by the act to which this is an amendment, and the faith of the Confederate States is hereby pledged that the same shall be refunded as required for the purposes aforesaid. And the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause a separate account of said money to be kept in well-bound books procured for that purpose.
Mr. Russell modified his amendment to the amendment and moved to strike out the following words, viz:
or by the seizure or capture or wanton and malicious destruction of private property of such persons on land, or by the capture or detention of slaves by the military or civil authorities,
And inserting in lieu thereof the following words, to wit:
or by the abduction or harboring of slaves, or by the seizure, waste, injury, or destruction of other property, real or personal, by the enemy, or by any person in the civil, military, or naval service of the enemy, or by any State government, or pretended State government, or other government adhering to the enemy, or by any person in the service of any such government, or pretended government, or by any person under the authority of any such government, or pretended government, or of the Government of the United States, or by traitors or rebels against any of the Confederate States during the present war; or by the destruction, or partial destruction, of property, to save it from capture or use by the enemy, or persons adhering to the enemy, and acting in hostility to the Confederate States, or any of them; and by any act, whether done or permitted under State or Federal authority or the authority of any pretended government adhering to the enemy.
Whereupon,
Mr. Russell, at the instance of the State of Virginia, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, viz:
Page 755 | Page image
Yea: Florida, Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, 4.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas, 9.
The motion was lost.
Mr. Seddon moved to amend the amendment of Mr. Smith of Alabama to the second section, by striking out the following words, viz:
or by the seizure or capture or wanton and malicious destruction of private property of such persons on land, or by the capture or detention of slaves by the military or civil authorities,
And inserting in lieu thereof the following words, viz:
or by such acts of the enemy or other causes incident to the war as by future act of Congress may be described and defined as affording, under the circumstances, proper cases for indemnity.
Mr. Smith accepted the amendment.
Mr. Monroe moved to amend the amendment as amended by inserting at the end of the words just inserted--"proper cases for indemnity"--the following words, viz:
and to satisfy all damages, any officer or soldier of the Army of the Confederate States, or any pretended State thereof, or other person acting under the authority of any such officer, who has or shall have suffered by the sale or seizure of his property under any execution or order of any judicial court of the United States, or any pretended State thereof, on any judgment thereon rendered on proceedings thereon had on the alleged ground of damages suffered by the plaintiff, by the destruction or damage or conversion of his property by the act of the defendant in the prosecution of the present war between the United States and the Confederate States.
Whereupon,
Mr. Monroe, at the instance of the State of Kentucky, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, viz:
Page 756 | Page image
Yea: Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, 3.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas, 8.
Divided: South Carolina and Tennessee, 2.
The motion was lost.
Mr. Russell moved to amend the amendment of Mr. Smith of Alabama by striking out the following words, viz:
or by such acts of the enemy or other causes incident to the war as by future act of Congress may be described and defined as affording, under the circumstances, proper cases for indemnity,
And inserting in lieu thereof the following words, viz:
or by the abduction or harboring of slaves, or by the seizure, waste, injury, or destruction of other property, real or personal, by the enemy, or by any person in the civil, military, or naval service of the enemy, or by any State government, or pretended State government, or other government adhering to the enemy, or by any person in the service of any such government, or pretended government, or by any person under the authority of any such government, or pretended government, or of the Government of the United States, or by traitors or rebels against any of the Confederate States during the present war.
Mr. Garland demanded the question.
And on the question,
Will the Congress second the demand for the question?
The same was decided in the negative.
Mr. Russell demanded, at the instance of the State of Virginia, that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded on his motion to amend.
A message was received from the President, by the hands of his Private Secretary, Mr. Josselyn, informing Congress that the President on yesterday approved and signed
An act to explain an act entitled "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 design,' approved May twenty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-one;"
An act supplemental to an act entitled "An act providing for the granting of bounty and furloughs to privates and noncommissioned officers in the Provisional Army;"
An act to authorize certain financial arrangements at the Treasury;
An act 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;
A resolution supplemental to the resolution entitled "A resolution appointing John D. Morris, of Kentucky, a receiver under the act of sequestration, approved August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one," and which was approved by the President on the 16th of December, 1861;
An act supplemental to an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to raise an additional force to serve during the war,
Page 757 | Page image
and for other purposes,' approved May eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one."
Mr. Monroe moved that Congress do now adjourn.
The motion prevailed; and
Congress adjourned until to-morrow at 12 o'clock m.
PREVIOUS SECTION .. NEXT SECTION .. NAVIGATOR
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |