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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 --SIXTY-SIXTH DAY--MONDAY, February 10, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
Congress met pursuant to adjournment, and resolved itself into secret session.
SECRET SESSION.
Congress being in secret session,
Mr. Thomason offered
A resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the propriety of arming troops with pikes, lances, or spears and shotguns, etc.;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Perkins offered the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the President of the Confederate States be requested to communicate to Congress the number of troops now in the service of the Confederate States, specifying the States from which they came, the period of service for which they enlisted; also the dates at which they were mustered into service and at which they will go out of that service; also the number of troops, if any, in the Regular Army of the Confederate States.
Also, the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the President be requested to have furnished the Congress, by the heads of the several Departments, a list of the names of the different officers in each Department at the seat of government, accompanied by a statement of the salaries they receive and the State or country of which they are natives.
Mr. Brooke offered the following resolution; which was read and laid on the table, to wit:
Resolved, That in the further discussion of the bill known as the "confiscation bill," and amendments thereto, no member shall be permitted to speak more than ten minutes or more than three times on the same proposition.
Mr. Waul introduced
A bill to provide for the appointment of assistant inspectors-general of the, Regular Army of the Confederate States of America and for the volunteer forces;
which was read first and second times, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Also, a bill to provide for the appointment of medical inspectors of the Army of the Confederate States; which was read first and second times, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Also, a bill to establish a pay department for the Army of the Confederate States, and for other purposes; which was read first and second times, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Boteler offered the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the Secretary of War he, and he is hereby, requested to communicate to Congress the official reports of the recent operations of the Army of the Valley District in Virginia, under the command of Major-General Thomas J. Jackson.
Mr. Barnwell, from the Committee on Finance, to whom was referred
A resolution of inquiry as to the expediency of exchanging the bonds of the Confederate States for the bonds of the State of Virginia, to the amount of $1,000,000, to be applied to the completion of the Covington and Ohio Railroad,
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reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs; which was agreed to.
Mr. Barnwell, from the same committee, to whom was referred
A resolution instructing the committee to report a bill for the benefit of deputy marshals,
reported the same back, asked to be discharged from its further consideration, and that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Claims; which was agreed to.
Mr. Barnwell, from the same committee, reported back and recommended the passage of
A bill to organize the clerical force of the Treasury Department,
And called the question, which was on ordering the bill to be engrossed for a third reading.
And the question being,
Shall the call for the question be sustained?
The vote was taken and decided in the affirmative.
The bill was then engrossed and read a third time;
When,
Mr. Perkins moved to lay the bill on the table and demanded the question.
And the question being,
Shall the call for the question be sustained?
The vote was taken and decided in the negative.
On motion of Mr. Kenner, Mr. Perkins was allowed to state his objections to the bill.
Mr. Barnwell then moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.
The motion to reconsider prevailed; and
Mr. Barnwell moved to amend by striking out the clause in the third section of the bill, relating to the tenure of the offices of clerks.
The amendment was agreed to.
And the bill was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported unfavorably on
A bill to encourage enlistments for the Confederate Army in the State of Missouri,
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, made a similar report on
A bill to provide for the appointment of assistant adjutants-general and aids-de-camp to colonels of regiments assigned to the command of brigades, etc.;
which was agreed to.
Mr. Perkins, from the Committee on Printing, reported
A bill to provide for the preservation and future publication of the Journals of the Provisional Congress and the proceedings of the convention which framed the provisional and permanent Constitution of the Confederate States;
which was read first and second times, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Hill, from the Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the memorial of B. J. Jordan, reported
A bill for the relief of disbursing officers and agents of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in certain cases;
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which was read first and second times, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Congress then proceeded to the consideration of the unfinished business of Saturday; which was the consideration of the motion of Mr. Avery to reconsider the vote by which his amendment to
A bill to amend an act to provide for local defense and special service
was rejected.
And the vote having been taken thereon, the motion to reconsider did not prevail.
Mr. Russell called for the question, which was upon ordering the bill to be engrossed for a third reading.
And the question being,
Shall the demand for the question be sustained?
Mr. Davis, at the instance of the State of North Carolina, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, 8.
Nay: Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas, 4.
Divided: Mississippi, 1.
So the demand for the question was sustained.
And the question being upon ordering the bill to be engrossed for a third reading,
Mr. Avery, at the instance of the State of North Carolina, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, to wit:
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Yea: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia, 4.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, 8.
Divided: Louisiana, 1.
So the Congress refused to order the bill to be engrossed for a third reading.
Mr. Toombs moved to reconsider the vote on the passage of
A bill to provide for the connection of the Richmond and Danville Railroad with the North Carolina Railroad, for military purposes.
The motion to reconsider did not prevail.
On motion of Mr. Toombs, the following protest was ordered to be spread at large on the Journal of Congress:
PROTEST.
The undersigned respectfully request that this, their protest against the passage of the "Act to provide for connecting the Richmond and Danville and the North Carolina Railroads, for military purposes," may be entered on the Journals of Congress. This act, in effect, places $1,000,000 of the bonds of the Confederate States at the disposal of the President, to be used and applied at such times and in such sums as he may deem proper, for building and working the contemplated road according to his discretion. He may contract with incorporated companies, or, overriding and disregarding them and their vested rights, he may, without any act of incorporation from State or Federal legislative authority, adopt any course he may choose for making a railroad between the points designated by the act. The wishes of States, the vested interests of States in other roads, corporate rights, rights of private property (including the rights of way, timber and other materials), all, by this act, are made to fall before the fiat of the Executive. It must also follow as "a necessity" that, by thus conferring upon the President the power to invade public, corporate, and individual rights in order to build the road, it must include the power to protect it when built. It would be a reflection upon the intelligence of Congress to suppose that they would authorize an expenditure of a million of dollars to build a road without the power to protect it, when built, from injury or destruction. To effect these objects, therefore, the President must prescribe penalties for injuries to it and obstructions impairing its future use; establish tribunals to enforce them; declare what are crimes in relation thereto; affix punishments and provide for their execution--thus exercising dictatorial powers over the lives, liberties, and properties of the people under color of giving improved facilities to the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments.
By the permanent Constitution, the power of the Confederate Government to acquire places for its capital and for its forts, magazines, arsenals, and dry docks, and for other needful buildings is expressly dependent upon the consent of the legislatures of the States in which the same shall be located. Here are military establishments enumerated in the Constitution, not only unquestionable military necessities, but especially indispensable means to the exercise of the war power and the public defense, vet even over these (so jealously does the Constitution guard the rights of the States) Congress is not permitted to exercise any jurisdiction whatever until the consent of the States for that purpose is first obtained. This clause of the Constitution substantially declares that no military necessity whatever shall give jurisdiction over the soil of a sovereign State. This conclusion is irresistible, unless it can be shown that there are special reasons for excluding these indispensable military establishments from the benefits of such jurisdiction. Under this view of the permanent Constitution the dangerous powers assumed by the bill under consideration, even if
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consistent with the Provisional Constitution, would expire on the 22d instant. Their exercise under such circumstances can not be justified.
If this bill be tested by the Provisional Constitution it will be found to be without warrant or authority from that instrument. This Constitution contains no grant of powers which authorizes its passage. Its advocates admit that there is no express grant to that end, but claim that it is necessary and proper to the exercise of other powers which are granted. They claim that the railroad connection in question is a military necessity, hence the power to make it.
In the opinion of the undersigned, the power to pass the bill in question is not granted to Congress by the Constitution, nor is its exercise necessary and proper to the execution of any granted power. It is not a military necessity, because armies and munitions and military supplies have been, are now, and probably always will be mainly transported by other means. But this peculiar locality is especially excluded from this claim of military necessity. There is not a square inch of the land over which the road is ordered to be built which is 25 miles distant from a railroad, and, therefore, but little, even in time, is to be gained by the proposed railroad over the ordinary modes of transportation. It is not necessary to connect distant portions of the country by railroad communication, such connection being already fully and amply made, altogether sufficient to transport through North Carolina and Virginia all commodities or persons which the existing railroads can bring to them. Therefore, its benefits must be purely local, restricted to the country immediately on the line of the road. This being the case, it has no other or greater claims to be considered a military necessity than any other section of country of equal extent, population, and production in the Confederate States. That this road, under some circumstances, might be a military convenience, is fully admitted, but the same may be said of any other road within our limits, great or small.
The propriety of the road in question is subject to equally grave objections. The bill appropriates between $20,000 and $25,000 per mile to its construction. This sum is about the cost of a large number of the best roads in the South, and the interest on the sum, at the rates at which we are borrowing money, amounts to about $2,000 per mile annually for Government freights, a sum wholly beyond the capacity of the country to pay if applied to the whole of our transportation of the Army in the proportion to what this road will convey. Its impropriety is no less apparent upon another ground. Reasoning from the experience of the past, and upon our diminished supplies of necessary articles for building railroads, the proposed work can not be completed within the next twelve months; therefore may never be used at all for military purposes. Then both the necessity and propriety of the proposed road, even such as they are, rest upon remote contingencies beyond the scope of human vision.
The undersigned are restrained by obvious considerations, in a paper of this kind, from enlarging the argument against the exercise of such stupendous and dangerous powers as are claimed in this bill, under the guise of military necessity. They see in it the direct absorption of all the powers of the State and the liberties of the people. Under the same pretension they now witness the Constitution of the United States subverted, martial law declared, and the writ of habeas corpus suspended. The old Government never exercised this power. This was one of the prospective evils against which the people of the South were warned, and was one of the special grounds urged in favor of separation from it.
For these, among other reasons, the undersigned have a firm conviction that the principles of the bill in question saps the foundation of the Constitution and public liberty, and they therefore enter this their solemn protest against its passage and invoke the people to examine into the public danger.
Congress then proceeded to the consideration of the special order of the day; which was the consideration of a bill to amend the sequestration act, etc.;
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When,
Mr. Harris of Mississippi moved to amend the same by inserting as section 5 in said bill the following, to wit:
In cases of partnership property and effects, the resident partner or partners shall be dealt with in all respects as surviving partners in cases of a dissolution of partnership by the death of one or more of the partners, according to the laws of the place of the principal place of business of the partnership; and the receiver shall have the same remedies against such resident partners as the representatives of a deceased partner would be entitled to in like case.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Macfarland, by unanimous consent, presented a design for a flag; which was referred to the Committee on Flag and Seal.
Mr. Chilton moved to postpone the consideration of the bill prior to the twelfth section, and to proceed with the consideration of the same from that point.
The motion was agreed to.
And section 12 being under consideration; which is as follows, to wit:
Mr. Hill moved to amend by striking out the whole of the same and inserting in lieu thereof the following, to wit:
Neither this act nor the one to which it is amendatory shall operate to sequester or to confiscate any debt due to an alien enemy by mercantile account, note, bond, draft, or by other like evidence of debt, and so much of the act to which this is amendatory as is in conflict with this section is repealed. Neither this act nor the one to which it is amendatory shall operate to confiscate or to sequester any property invested in mining and other permanent improvements in any State, and which the State in which such property may be situated has declared in sovereign convention its fixed policy to protect.
The amendment was not agreed to.
A message was received from the President, by the hands of his Private Secretary, Mr. Josselyn.
Mr. Oldham, from the Committee on Engrossment, reported as correctly engrossed and enrolled
An act to provide for the compensation of G. H. Oury, Delegate from Arizona, for his attendance at this session of Congress.
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Mr. De Witt moved to amend by inserting after the word "found" the following words, to wit:
In all proceedings against persons for debts due by them to alien enemies, the debtor shall be allowed to make any defense in law or equity which he might or could have made in a suit brought against him by the creditor to whom such debt was due.
The amendment was agreed to.
A message was received from the President, by the hands of his Private Secretary, Mr. Josselyn, informing Congress that the President has this day approved and signed
An act to provide for connecting the Richmond and Danville and the North Carolina Railroads, for military purposes.
Mr. Macfarland moved to amend by adding at the end of the section the following, to wit:
When citizens of any of the Confederate States are both creditors and debtors to citizens of the United States and are impleaded for the debts so due from them as herein provided, they may set off against the same the debts due to them as aforesaid, or so much thereof as is equal to their indebtedness, provided it be shown that the persons from whom the same may be owing are solvent; and thereupon such debts, or so much thereof as may be so set off, shall vest in the receiver, as in other cases.
And upon which, at the instance of the State of Virginia, he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Tennessee, 1.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, 9.
Divided: Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, 3.
So the amendment was not agreed to.
On motion of Mr. Avery, the injunction of secrecy was removed from
A bill to provide for the connection of the Richmond and Danville with the North Carolina Railroad, for military purposes.
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Mr. Campbell moved to amend by striking out the following words, to wit: "except for the interest which shall accrue on the same at the end of each year."
Upon which Mr. Thomason, at the instance of the State of Arkansas, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Florida, Texas, and Virginia, 3.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee, 9.
Divided: South Carolina, 1.
So the amendment was not agreed to.
Mr. Smith of North Carolina moved to amend by inserting after the words "Provided, however," the following, to wit:
That all proceedings instituted under the provisions of this act, or that of which it is an amendment, shall conform as far as practicable to the practice prescribed in the courts of the States where they may be held, and further that.
And upon which, at the instance of the State of North Carolina, he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded thereon; which are as follows, to wit:
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So the amendment was not agreed to.
A message was received from the President, by the hands of his Private Secretary, Mr. Josselyn.
Mr. Smith of North Carolina moved to amend by inserting after the word "until" the words "twelve months after."
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Hill moved to amend by adding at the end of the section the following, to wit:
Provided, [That] neither this act nor the one to which it is amendatory shall operate to sequester or to confiscate any debt due to an alien enemy by mercantile account, note, draft, or by other like evidence of debt, and so much of the act to which this is amendatory as is in conflict with this provision is repealed.
And upon which, at the instance of the State of Georgia, he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Georgia, 1.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, 10.
Divided: South Carolina and Tennessee, 2.
So the amendment was not agreed to.
Mr. Hill moved to amend further by adding at the end of the section the following, to wit:
Provided further, That neither this act nor the one to which it is amendatory shall operate to sequester or to confiscate any property invested in manufacturing, mining, and other permanent improvement, in any State, and which the State in which said property may be situated has heretofore declared in sovereign convention its fixed policy to protect.
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And on which, at the instance of the State of Georgia, he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Georgia, Missouri. and North Carolina. 3.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, 9.
Divided: South Carolina. 1.
So the amendment was not agreed to, and the section as amended is as follows, to wit:
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And section 13 being under consideration; which is as follows, to wit:
Mr. Smith of North Carolina moved to amend the same by adding at the end of the section the following words, to wit:
Provided, That the entire answer shall be considered by the court.
Upon which Mr. Thomason, at the instance of the State of Arkansas, demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, 7.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, 5.
Divided: Virginia, 1.
So the amendment was agreed to.
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Mr. Thomason moved that Congress do now adjourn.
The motion did not prevail.
Mr. Harris of Mississippi moved to amend by inserting as section 16 the following, to wit:
All proceedings now pending under the act to which this act is an amendment shall be made to conform to the proceedings, directed in this act, so far as practicable and the judgments rendered thereto shall be given in all respects, and have the same operation and effect as judgments rendered under the twelfth section of this act.
The amendment was agreed to.
And section 18 being under consideration; which is as follows, to wit:
Mr. Chilton moved to amend by striking out the word "personal."
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Russell moved to amend by inserting as section 20 the following, to wit:
In proceedings under this act, and the act of which it is amendatory, upon affidavit being made by the attorney representing the Confederate States, or the proper receiver, that the name of an alien enemy is wholly or partly unknown to him, or that the names of the members of a partnership of alien enemies are unknown to him, the process and proceedings may be against such partnership by the firm name thereof, stated in such affidavit, or against such alien enemy whose name is wholly or partly unknown, by such name or proper description as may be known and set forth in such affidavit: Provided, That the court may, at any time, on motion, cause the full and proper name to be inserted in the record, and used in the proceedings, when the same become known to the court.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Russell moved to amend by inserting as section 21 the following, to wit:
Receivers shall have authority to administer oaths touching any matter incident to proceedings under this act.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Russell further moved to amend by inserting as section 29 the following, to wit:
Be it further enacted, That all right, title, and interest which shall be vested in the Confederate States of America or be sequestered, in any land or lots, by reason of the provisions of this act, or the act entitled "An act for the sequestration of the estates, property, and effects of alien enemies, and for the indemnity of citizens of the Confederate States and persons aiding the same in the existing war with the United States," approved August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, shall be, and the same are hereby, absolutely transferred to, and vested in, any person or persons who are citizens of the said Confederate States, and are true and loyal to the same, for so much as such person or persons may have just title or claim, such failure shall in no wise impair or invalidate the right or title of the person or persons to whom the same shall be transferred as aforesaid, and such right or title so transferred may be asserted in any court.
And upon which he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
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Yea: Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, 4.
Nay: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and South Carolina, 7.
Divided: Arkansas, 1.
Not voting: Louisiana, 1.
So the amendment was not agreed to.
Mr. Russell moved to amend again, by inserting as section 22 the same amendment, with the words "in possession thereof" inserted after the word "persons."
And upon which he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
Yea: Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, 3.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, 10.
So the amendment was not agreed to.
Mr. Currin moved to amend by inserting as section 22 the following, to wit:
All persons citizens or residents of any of the Confederate States who, since the breaking out of the war, have voluntarily abandoned their domiciles and removed themselves beyond the Confederate lines and within the enemy's lines, thereby showing their unwillingness to aid the Confederate States in the existing war and their adherence to the United States, are and shall be deemed alien enemies under this act and the one to which it is amendatory.
And upon which he demanded that the yeas and nays of the whole body be recorded; which are as follows, to wit:
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Yea: Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee, 4.
Nay: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Virginia, 5.
Divided: Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, 4.
So the amendment was not agreed to.
Mr. Perkins moved to amend by offering Mr. Currin's amendment as section 22, leaving out the words "or residents."
On motion of Mr. Waul, Congress then resolved itself into executive session; and having spent some time therein, again resolved itself into legislative session.
And on motion of Mr. Perkins,
Adjourned until 11 o'clock a. m. to-morrow.
EXECUTIVE SESSION.
Congress being in executive session,
The Chair presented the following communication from the President:
Richmond, February 10, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States:
I nominate the officers on the accompanying list to the rank affixed to their names, respectively, agreeably to the recommendation of the Secretary of War.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Congress advised and consented to the confirmation of J. Patton Anderson, of Florida, to be a brigadier-general in the Army of the Confederate States.
The nomination of J. R. Chalmers, of Mississippi, was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
The Chair laid before Congress a message from the President; which is as follows, viz:
Richmond, February 10, 1862.
To the President of the Congress of the Confederate States of America:
I nominate the officer named in the annexed letter of the Secretary of the Navy, agreeably to his recommendation.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Confederate States of America, Navy Department,
Richmond, February 10, 1862.
The President.
Sir: I have the honor to recommend the following nomination for appointment in the Navy of the Confederate States:
With much respect, your obedient servant,
S. R. MALLORY,
Secretary of the Navy.
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The nomination was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.
The Chair also laid before Congress another communication from the President; which was read, as follows:
Executive Department,
Richmond, February 10, 1862.
To the President of the Congress of the Confederate States of America:
I nominate the officer named in the annexed letter of the Secretary of the Navy, agreeably to his recommendation.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Confederate States of America, Navy Department,
Richmond, February 3, 1862.
The President.
Sir: I have the honor to recommend the following nomination for appointment in the Navy of the Confederate States:
With much respect, your obedient servant,
S. R. MALLORY,
Secretary of the Navy.
The nomination was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.
Congress then resumed business in legislative session.
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