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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 --MONDAY, March 11, 1861.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume I]
MONDAY, March 11, 1861.

OPEN SESSION.

Congress met pursuant to adjournment.

Prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Manly.

The Journal of Saturday was read and approved.

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The Chair laid before Congress the following communication and resolution; which, on motion of Mr. Wright, were ordered to be spread upon the Journal, to wit:

Savannah, Ga., March 8, 1861.

Hon. Howell Cobb,
President, etc., Montgomery, Ala.

Sir: Under authority of the convention of Georgia I am instructed to lay before the Provisional Congress the inclosed resolution.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

A. R. LAMAR, Secretary.

The following is the resolution:

Convention of Georgia,
Savannah, Ga., March 8, 1861.

Resolved, That the people of Georgia in convention assembled most heartily approve the election, by the Congress at Montgomery, of the Hon. Jefferson Davis to the Presidency and the Hon. A. H. Stephens to the Vice-Presidency of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, the duties of which positions their distinguished public services and acknowledged abilities eminently qualify them to discharge.

A true extract from the minutes.

Attest:

A. R. LAMAR, Secretary.

Mr. Withers offered the following resolution:
A resolution accepting certain funds tendered to the Confederate States by the State of Louisiana.

Whereas the convention of the State of Louisiana has adopted an ordinance as follows, to wit:

An ordinance to transfer certain funds to the Government of the Confederate States of America.

• Section 1. It is hereby ordained that the sum of three hundred and eighty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven and forty-six one hundredths dollars, now in the hands of A. J. Guirot, State depositary, and known as the "Bullion fund," be transferred to the Government of the Confederate States of America, and that said State depositary be, and he is hereby, authorized and instructed to pay said sum upon the order of the Secretary of the Treasury of said Confederate States.
• Sec. 2. It is further ordained, that the sum of one hundred and forty-seven thousand five hundred and nineteen dollars and sixty-six cents, being the balance received by said State depositary from the customs since the thirty-first January last, be transferred to said Government and paid by said depositary upon the order of said Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States: Be it therefore

Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That the Congress accepts with a high sense of the patriotic liberality of the State of Louisiana, the funds so generously tendered to the Treasury of the Confederate States, and proffered in the ordinance aforesaid;
which resolution was agreed to.

Mr. Harrison presented a letter from A. M. Dowling relative to the structure of certain buildings; which was referred to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. Ochiltree offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee on Finance be instructed to inquire into the expediency of exempting from duties all railroad ears, tenders, iron chairs, spikes, and, generally, all the fixtures necessary to the building and equipping railroads, which were purchased in the United States for the benefit of railroads in the Confederate States prior to the twenty-eighth day of February, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-one;
which was adopted.

Mr. Hemphill, one of the Delegates from the State of Texas, appeared, took the oath to support the Constitution, and signed the roll of Congress.

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The general orders on the Public Calendar were postponed for the present and Congress went into secret session; and after remaining some time therein, adjourned till 10 o'clock to-morrow.

SECRET SESSION.

Congress having gone into secret session,

The Journal of Saturday was read and approved.

Mr. Barnwell offered the following resolutions:

Resolved, That a committee of three members of this body be appointed to revise the statute laws of the United States, and report, in form of a digest, such laws as are applicable to this Confederacy, together with such changes and modifications as they would recommend for the adoption of Congress.

• (2) Resolved, That the committee have leave to sit during the recess, and to employ such clerks and to order such printing as they may require, and that they be authorized to draw for the same on the appropriation for the contingent expenses of Congress.
• (3) Resolved, That the committee be appointed by the President of the Congress;
  which were read a first and second time, engrossed, read a third time, and adopted.

Mr. Wilson, from the Committee on Engrossment, reported as correctly engrossed and enrolled

An act making appropriations for the support of the Regular Army of the Confederate States of America for twelve months, and for other purposes; also

An act to establish a court of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction at Key West, in the State of Florida.

On motion of Mr. Clayton, the unfinished business was postponed for the time, and Mr. Clayton, from the Committee on Judiciary, to which committee was referred the resolution in relation to the public lands, made a report thereon; which was ordered to be printed and laid on the table for the time.

It was also ordered that the Alabama delegation be authorized to inform the convention of Alabama that Congress has the subject of public lands under consideration.

On motion of Mr. Conrad, the Congress postponed the regular order and took up, by sections, the bill for the organization of the Navy.

The first section being as follows, viz.

• Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States do enact, That the President be authorized to appoint the following commissioned officers of the Navy, viz: Four captains, four commanders, ... lieutenants, five surgeons, and five assistant surgeons, six paymasters, two chief engineers, and as many masters, midshipmen, engineers, naval constructors, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, sailmakers and other noncommissioned or warrant officers and seamen as he may deem necessary.

On motion of Mr. Conrad, the same was amended by filling up the blank with the word "thirty."

Mr. Boyce moved to amend the same by adding the following proviso, to wit:
Provided, however, That the appointments authorized by this bill shall be made only as they may be needed in actual service.

The motion was lost.

Mr. Conrad moved the following as an additional section to the bill, and to be called the sixth section:

• Sec. 6. The following officers shall be attached to the Navy Department, to wit:
  • 1. An officer, not below the grade of commander, who shall be charged with the purchase or preparation of ordnance, ordnance stores, and supplies and equipments,

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    and with hydrography, and with such other duties as the Secretary may from time to time assign to him.

  • 2. An officer, not below the rank of lieutenant, and to be designated as the Judge-Advocate-General of the Navy, who shall, under the direction of the Secretary, have charge of all matters and things connected with courts-martial and courts of inquiry, and with the custody of all records and papers thereunto appertaining. Said officer shall also, under the direction of the Secretary, prepare all orders to officers and details of a service, and shall perform such other duties relating to the personnel of the Navy as the Secretary may from time to time direct.
  • 3. A surgeon or assistant surgeon, who shall, under the direction of the Secretary, make all purchases of medicines and medical supplies for the Navy, and perform such other duties appertaining to the medical department as the Secretary may from time to time direct.
  • 4. A paymaster, who shall, under the direction of the Secretary, make all contracts for or purchases of provisions, clothing, and coal for the use of the Navy, and perform such other duties as the Secretary may direct.

The Secretary is authorized to appoint one clerk to aid each of the above officers in the discharge of his duties, whose annual salary shall not exceed fifteen hundred dollars; but the officers therein detailed for duty shall receive no compensation for their services beyond their regular pay on other duty.

The motion prevailed.

On motion of Mr. Conrad, the bill was further amended by striking therefrom the tenth section; which is as follows:

• Sec. 10. In any case in which an officer who had previously been attached to the Navy of the United States shall be received into the naval service of the Confederate States, the President is hereby authorized to affix to his commission such date as he may deem proper, and the date so affixed shall be deemed to be that of his appointment: Provided, The date so affixed shall not be more than six months prior to that of his actual appointment.

Mr. Ochiltree moved to amend the bill by adding the following as an additional section, to wit:

No officers appointed under the provisions of this act shall be finally dismissed from the service except upon the finding of a court-martial or court of inquiry after charges duly preferred. And when charges shall be preferred against an officer he shall be furnished with a copy of the same, and shall have the right to appear before the court-martial or court of inquiry to answer the same, either by himself or counsel.

Upon agreeing to the amendment, at the instance of the State of Texas, the yeas and nays of the entire body were ordered to be taken and recorded on the Journal, and are as follows:

• Alabama--Yea: Mr. Shorter. Nay: Messrs. Hale and Fearn.
• Florida--Yea: Messrs. Morton, Anderson, and Owens.
• Georgia--Yea: Mr. Howell Cobb. Nay: Messrs. Toombs, Nisbet, and Wright.
• Louisiana--Yea: Mr. Perkins. Nay: Messrs. De Clouet, Conrad, Sparrow, and Marshall.
• Mississippi divided--Yea: Messrs. Wilson and Harrison. Nay: Messrs. Clayton and Barry.
• South Carolina--Nay: Messrs. Rhett, Keitt, Chesnut, Miles, Withers, and Boyce.
• Texas--Yea: Messrs. Reagan, Hemphill, Waul, Gregg, and Ochiltree.

The motion to amend was lost.

Mr. Conrad moved to amend the bill by adding the following additional section, viz:

The President may determine the relative and assimilated rank which officers of the Navy shall hold toward those of the Army.

The motion prevailed.

The bill was engrossed as amended, read the third time, and passed.

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Mr. Kenner offered the following resolution, to wit:

Resolved, That when this Congress adjourns Tuesday, it stand adjourned till the third Wednesday in May, unless sooner reassembled by the President of the Confederate States;
which was postponed for the present.

Mr. Toombs, from the Committee on Finance, to which was referred a bill making appropriations to carry out the provisions of an act to provide for the public defense, reported the same back to the Congress without amendment and recommended that the same do pass.

The bill was ordered to be taken up, was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.

Mr. Toombs, from the same committee, also reported

A bill to make appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the year ending February 4, 1862;
which was read the first and second times and put on the Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. Toombs, from the Committee on Finance, to which committee was referred an act passed by the legislature of Florida relative to the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad Company, asked to be relieved from its further consideration and that the matter lie on the table for the present.

The report was agreed to.

Mr. Wilson, from the Committee on Engrossment, reported as correctly engrossed and enrolled

A resolution providing for a digest of laws.

A message was received from the President, through his Private Secretary, Mr. Josselyn, that he had approved and signed the following acts passed by the Congress, to wit:

An act to fix the pay of the members of the Congress of the Confederate States of America;

An act making appropriations for the support of 3,000 men for twelve months, to be called into service at Charleston, S. C., under the third and fourth sections of an act to raise provisional forces for the Confederate States of America, and for other purposes;

An act making appropriations for the support of the Regular Army of the Confederate States of America for twelve months, and for other purposes; and

An act to establish a court of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction at Key West, in the State of Florida.

Mr. Wilson, from the Committee on Engrossment, reported as duly engrossed and enrolled

An act making appropriations to carry out the provisions of an act to provide for the public defense.

Mr. Barnwell offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That when this Congress adjourns on Wednesday next, it will adjourn until the second Monday in May.

Mr. Clayton moved the Congress take a recess till 7.30 o'clock p. m.

The motion was lost.

On motion of Mr. Morton,

Congress adjourned until 10 o'clock a. m. to-morrow.

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EXECUTIVE SESSION.

The Congress having gone into executive session, the following communication was received from the President:

Executive Department,
Montgomery, Ala., March 11, 1861.

Hon. Howell Cobb,
President of the Congress.

Sir: I herewith transmit for the advice and consent of the Congress the nomination of A. J. Guirot, of Louisiana, to be assistant treasurer of the Confederate States, and treasurer of the mint at New Orleans.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

And the question being,

Will the Congress advise and consent to the nomination above communicated?

It was unanimously decided in the affirmative.

So the Congress does advise and consent that A. J. Guirot, of Louisiana, be assistant treasurer of the Confederate States, and treasurer of the mint at New Orleans.

There being no further executive business, the Congress resumed the consideration of the business upon the Calendar.

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