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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 --WEDNESDAY, May 15, 1861.
OPEN SESSION.
Congress met pursuant to adjournment.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. Mr. Simmons.
Mr. Smith offered the following resolution; which was agreed to:
Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to report a bill establishing and organizing courts of the Confederate States for the State of Virginia.
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Mr. Keitt, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, reported
A bill for the protection of certain Indian tribes;
which was read the first and second times;
When,
On motion of Mr. Keitt, Congress went into secret session; and after remaining some time therein, adjourned until 11 o'clock to-morrow.
SECRET SESSION.
Congress having resolved itself in secret session,
Mr. Rhett, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which was referred a resolution relative to treaty stipulations with foreign nations, concerning duties on imports, reported the following resolutions and recommended their adoption:
Resolved, That the duties on importations to be levied by the Confederate States and foreign nations reciprocally is a proper matter for negotiation and treaty stipulation. And that it is the sense of Congress that such negotiation and stipulations should be based upon a maximum of duties not higher than twenty per cent ad valorem on all articles of manufacture or production imported from any nation which shall make a treaty with the Confederate States satisfactory in other respects.
Resolved, That the above resolution be communicated to the President with a request that he will act upon the subject-matter therein expressed according to his views of the demands of the public services;
which were placed on the Calendar.
Mr. Brockenbrough, from the Committee on Judiciary, to which were referred joint resolutions adopted by the legislature of Texas relative to the establishment of a court of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction for the State of Texas, reported adversely to the same with a recommendation that they lie on the table.
The report was agreed to.
Mr. Cobb made the following report:
The Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred a resolution providing for the adjournment of Congress on the 23d day of May instant to meet again on the 20th day of July, at Richmond, have had the same under consideration and instruct me to report that, in the opinion of your committee, no further action is necessary by this body to effect the purpose indicated by said resolution, to wit: The reassembling of Congress at some point other than the temporary capital without removing the seat of government. Your committee therefore ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject.
The report was agreed to.
Mr. Bartow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported
A bill to change the existing law relative to the clerical force in the War Department;
which was read a first and second time.
On motion of Mr. Hill, the bill was postponed for the time and placed on the Calendar; and, on motion of Mr. Bartow, made the special order for to-morrow.
Congress took up for consideration the bill which was reported and read twice in open session, viz:
A bill for the protection of certain Indian tribes.
On motion of Mr. Barnwell, the same was postponed until to-morrow, placed on the Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Toombs, from the Committee on Finance, to which was referred a resolution in relation to marine hospitals, reported the same back without amendment and recommended its passage.
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The resolution was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Toombs, from the same committee, to which was referred
A bill to provide a compensation for the disbursing officers of the several Executive Departments,
reported the same back without amendment with a recommendation that it do pass.
The bill was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Harris introduced
A bill to amend an act to provide for the appointment of chaplains to the Army, approved May 3, 1861;
which was read the first and second times.
Mr. Barnwell moved to refer the bill to the Committee on Military Affairs.
The motion was lost.
The bill being as follows:
The Congress of the Confederate States do enact, That so much of the second section of the above-recited act as fixes the pay of chaplains in the Army at eighty-five dollars be repealed, and that the pay of said chaplains be forty dollars per month.
Mr. Hill moved to amend the same by adding thereto the following:
Provided, This act shall not be so construed as to apply to appointments already made by the Secretary of War.
The motion was lost.
Mr. Stephens moved to amend the same by striking out the words "be forty dollars per month" and adding to the section the following:
shall be three hundred dollars per annum, payable monthly at that rate, besides which they shall be allowed the usual soldiers' rations.
Mr. Stephens called the question; which was seconded, and the motion to amend was lost.
And Mr. Jones, at the instance of the State of Alabama, required the yeas and nays of the Congress; which were taken, and are as follows:
On motion of Mr. Hemphill, the bill was amended by striking therefrom the word "forty" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "fifty."
The bill as amended was engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Kenner offered the following resolution; which was agreed to, viz:
Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be directed to inquire whether it be not advisable that Government aid with reference to the defense of Louisiana and Texas and to military purposes generally in some form be extended to the railroad companies that have commenced and partially executed a line of railroad connecting
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New Orleans and Texas, so as to enable said companies to complete said line at as early a period as possible.
Congress then proceeded to the consideration of the special order, viz:
A bill to authorize a loan and the issue of Treasury notes, and to prescribe the punishment for forging the same, and for forging certificates of stock and bonds.
The first section thereof being as follows:
On motion of Mr. Memminger, the same was amended by striking out the word "six," where it occurs, and inserting in lieu thereof the word "eight."
Mr. Reagan moved to amend the section by striking therefrom the words "or the notes of any bank, corporation."
Mr. Keitt thereon demanded the question; which was seconded, and the motion was lost.
Mr. Perkins moved to amend the same by inserting after the words "to be sold for specie, military stores, or for" the words "cotton or."
Mr. Perkins demanded the question.
The demand was sustained and the motion was lost, and Mr. Kenner, for the State of Louisiana, required the yeas and nays thereon; which are as follows:
On motion of Mr. Smith, the section was amended by inserting after the words "the proceeds of sales of raw produce or manufactured articles" the following, viz: "to be paid in the form of specie or with foreign bills of exchange."
The section as amended is as follows:
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issue fifty millions of dollars in bonds, payable at the expiration of twenty years from their date, and bearing a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent per annum until they become payable, the said interest to be paid semiannually. The said bonds, after public advertisement in three newspapers within the Confederate States for six weeks, to be sold for specie, military stores, or for the proceeds of sales of raw produce or manufactured articles to be paid in the form of specie or with foreign bills of exchange in such manner and under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, with the assent of the President. But it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to report at its next ensuing session to the Congress of the Confederate States a precise statement of his transactions under this law. Nor shall the said bonds be issued in fractional parts of the hundred, or be exchanged by the said Secretary for Treasury notes, or the notes of any bank, corporation, or individual, but only in the manner herein prescribed: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the Secretary of the Treasury from receiving foreign bills of exchange in payment of these bonds.
Section 2 having been reported, which provided that the bonds bear 6 per cent interest, on motion of Mr. Withers the word "six" was stricken out and the word "eight" inserted in lieu of it.
The third section being as follows:
On motion of Mr. Memminger, the same was amended by adding thereto the following:
But the Secretary of [the] Treasury may, upon application of the holder of a bond thus funded, redeem it by giving in exchange Treasury notes issued under the provisions of this act to such extent as that the entire amount of notes then issued, together with the amount of the bonds in which they may have been funded, shall not exceed twenty millions of dollars.
Section 6 being as follows:
Mr. Harris moved to amend the same by inserting at the beginning of the section the following, viz:
That in order to raise a sum of money for present emergencies, a tax of three dollars on each and every slave in the Confederate States and three dollars on every pleasure carriage be levied and collected by the first Monday in October next; and that the marshals of the several districts of the Confederate States be charged with the assessment and collection of said tax and be authorized to appoint assistants therein: Provided, That the amount paid by any person for slaves and carriages shall be deducted from any other assessment made for the same year.
Mr. Harris thereon demanded the question; which was seconded, and the motion was lost.
Mr. Smith moved to amend the section by inserting after the words "the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to collect information in regard to the value of the property" the words, viz: "and the annual income from property, including money, discriminating between the descriptions of property."
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The motion was lost.
Mr. Withers moved to amend the bill by an additional section, as follows, in lieu of the amendment offered by him yesterday, viz:
The motion was lost.
On motion of Mr. Memminger, the bill was amended by the following additional section, viz:
The bill as amended was then engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
Mr. Memminger offered
A resolution in relation to imports from the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas;
which was read a first and second time, engrossed, read a third time, and agreed to.
Mr. Bartow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported
A bill to authorize the President to continue the appointments made by him in the military and naval service during the recess of Congress or the present session, and to submit them to Congress at its next session;
which was read the first and second times, engrossed, read a third time, and passed.
The Chair laid before Congress estimates for appropriations made by the Secretary of the Treasury; which were referred to the Committee on Finance.
On motion of Mr. Brooke,
Congress adjourned until 11 o'clock to-morrow.
EXECUTIVE SESSION.
The Congress having gone into executive session,
Mr. Rhett reported the following resolution, to wit:
A resolution to ratify the agreement and convention entered into between the Commonwealth of Tennessee and the Confederate States of America.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America (two-thirds of the Congress concurring therein), That the Congress advises and consents to the ratification of the convention and agreement entered into on the seventh day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, at Nashville, Tennessee, between the Commonwealth of Tennessee, by her commissioners, and the Confederate States of America, by their commissioner, the Honorable Henry W. Hilliard.
The question being,
Will the Congress advise and consent [to] the resolution?
It was unanimously decided in the affirmative.
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