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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, February 26, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
A message from the President of the Confederate States, by Mr. Robert Josselyn, his Secretary:
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States:
In obedience to the constitutional provision requiring the President from time to time to give to the Congress information of the state of the Confederacy and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient, I have to communicate that since my message at the last session of the Provisional Congress events have demonstrated that the Government had attempted more than it had power successfully to achieve. Hence, in the effort to protect by our arms the whole of the territory of the Confederate States, seaboard and inland, we have been so exposed as recently to encounter serious disasters. When the Confederacy was formed the States composing it were, by the peculiar character of their pursuits and a misplaced confidence in their former associates, to a great extent destitute of the means for the prosecution of the war on so gigantic a scale as that which it has attained. The workshops and artisans were mainly to be found in the Northern States, and one of the first duties which devolved upon this Government was to establish the necessary manufactories, and in the meantime to obtain by purchase from abroad, as far as practicable, whatever was required for the public defense. No effort has been spared to effect both these ends; and though the results have not equaled our hopes, it is believed that an impartial judgment will, upon full investigation, award to the various Departments of the Government credit for having done all which human power and foresight enable them to accomplish.
The valor and devotion of the people have not only sustained the efforts of the Government, but have gone far to supply its deficiencies.
The active state of military preparation among the nations of Europe in April last, the date when our agents first went abroad, interposed unavoidable delays in the procurement of arms and the want of a navy has greatly impeded our efforts to import military supplies of all sorts.
I have hoped for several days to receive official reports in relation to our discomfiture at Roanoke Island and the fall of Fort Donelson. They have not vet reached me, and I am, therefore, unable to communicate to you such information of those events, and the consequences resulting from them, as would enable me to make recommendations founded upon the changed condition which they have produced. Enough is known of the surrender at Roanoke Island to make us feel that it was deeply humiliating, however imperfect may have been the preparations for defense. The hope is still entertained that our reported losses at Fort Donelson have been greatly exaggerated, inasmuch as I am not only unwilling but unable to believe that a large army of our people have surrendered without a desperate effort to cut their way through investing forces, whatever may have been their numbers and to endeavor to make a junction with other divisions of the Army. But in the absence of that exact information which can only be afforded by official reports, it would be premature to pass judgment, and my own is reserved, as I trust yours will be, until that information is received. In the meantime strenuous efforts have been made to throw forward reenforcements to the armies at the positions threatened, and I can not doubt that the bitter disappointments we have borne, by nerving the people to still greater exertions, will speedily secure results more accordant with our just expectation and as favorable to our cause as those which marked the earlier periods of the war.
The reports of the Secretaries of War and the Navy will exhibit the mass of resources for the conduct of the war which we have been enabled to accumulate, notwithstanding the very serious difficulties against which we have contended.
They afford the cheering hope that our resources, limited as they were at the beginning of the contest, will during its progress become developed to such an extent as fully to meet our future wants.
The policy of enlistment for short terms, against which I have steadily contended from the commencement of the war, has, in my judgment contributed in no immaterial degree to the recent reverses which we have suffered, and even now renders it difficult to furnish you an accurate statement of the Army. When the war first broke out many of our people could with difficulty be persuaded that it would be long or serious. It was not deemed possible that anything so insane as a persistent attempt to subjugate these States could be made, still less that the delusion would
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so far prevail as to give to the war the vast proportions which it has assumed. The people, incredulous of a long war, were naturally averse to long enlistments, and the early legislation of Congress rendered it impracticable to obtain volunteers for a greater period than twelve months. Now that it has become probable that the war will be continued through a series of years, our high-spirited and gallant soldiers, while generally reenlisting, are, from the fact of having entered the service for a short term, compelled in many instances to go home to make the necessary arrangements for their families during their prolonged absence.
The quotas of new regiments for the war, called for from the different States, are in rapid progress of organization. The whole body of new levies and reenlisted men will probably be ready in the ranks within the next thirty days. But, in the meantime, it is exceedingly difficult to give an accurate statement of the number of our forces in the field. They may, in general terms, be stated at four hundred regiments of infantry, with a proportionate force of cavalry and artillery, the details of which will be shown by the report of the Secretary of War. I deem it proper to advert to the fact that the process of furloughs and reenlistment in progress for the last month had so far disorganized and weakened our forces as to impair our ability for successful defense; but I heartily congratulate you that this evil, which I had foreseen and was powerless to prevent, may now be said to be substantially at an end, and that we shall not again during the war be exposed to seeing our strength diminished by this fruitful cause of disaster--short enlistments.
The people of the Confederate States, being principally engaged in agricultural pursuits, were unprovided at the commencement of hostilities with ships, shipyards, materials for ship building, or skilled mechanics and seamen in sufficient numbers to make the prompt creation of a navy a practicable task even if the required appropriations had been made for the purpose. Notwithstanding our very limited resources, however, the report of the Secretary will exhibit to you a satisfactory progress in preparation, and a certainty of early completion of vessels of a number and class on which we may confidently rely for contesting the vaunted control of the enemy over our waters.
The financial system devised by the wisdom of your predecessors has proved adequate to supplying all the wants of the Government notwithstanding the unexpected and very large increase of expenditures resulting from the great augmentation in the necessary means of defense. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit the gratifying fact that we have no floating debt; that the credit of the Government is unimpaired, and that the total expenditure of the Government for the year has been in round numbers one hundred and seventy millions of dollars--less than one-third of the sum wasted by the enemy in his vain effort to conquer us; less than the value of a single article of export--the cotton crop of the year.
The report of the Postmaster-General will show the condition of that Department to be steadily improving--its revenues increasing and already affording the assurance that it will be self-sustaining at the date required by the Constitution, while affording ample mail facilities for the people.
In the Department of Justice, which includes the Patent Office and Public Printing, some legislative provisions will be required, which will be specifically stated in the report of the head of that Department. I invite the attention of Congress to the duty of organizing a supreme court of the Confederate States, in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution.
I refer you to my message communicated to the Provisional Congress in November last for such further information touching the condition of public affairs as it might be useful to lay before you, the short interval which has since elapsed not having produced any material changes in that condition other than those to which reference has already been made.
In conclusion, I cordially welcome representatives who, recently chosen by the people, are fully imbued with their views and feelings, and can so ably advise me as to the needful provisions for the public service. I assure you of my hearty cooperation in all your efforts for the common welfare of the country.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
The message was read.
Ordered, That it be laid upon the table and printed.
On motion by Mr. Oldham,
Ordered, That the President fill the vacancy existing in the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads.
The Hon. Henry C. Burnett, a Senator from the State of Kentucky, appeared, and having been qualified by taking the oath prescribed by law, took his seat in the Senate.
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On motion by Mr. Hunter,
Ordered, That 500 extra copies of the message this day received from the President be printed.
On motion by Mr. Hunter,
Ordered, That so much of the President's message as relates to the Judiciary be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell,
Ordered, That so much of the President's message as relates to patents be referred to the Committee on Patents.
Mr. Clay asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a bill (S. 4) supplementary to an act entitled "An act to establish the War Department," approved February 21, 1861; which was read the first and second times, by unanimous consent, and considered as in Committee of the Whole; and no amendment being made, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time by unanimous consent.
Resolved, That it pass, and that the title thereof be as aforesaid.
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
Mr. Simms asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a resolution (S. 2) relative to the public defense; which was read the first and second times, by unanimous consent, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Phelan submitted the following resolution; which was considered, by unanimous consent, and agreed to:
Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire into the expediency of repealing all duties upon imports, of abolishing all ports of entry, of preventing all exports from the Confederate States, except by special permission of the Government, and of requiring the masters or owners of all vessels landing a cargo upon our coast, who desire to reload for exportation from this country, to submit a manifest of the cargo so landed to some designated authority of the Government, with the right, on the part of said authority, to grant or withhold the permission so desired, and of enforcing the policy herein indicated by the most stringent penalties and regulations; and that said committee, e report, as early as practicable, by bill or otherwise.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom had been referred
A resolution in relation to taking possession and control, by the Government, of all the cotton, tobacco, and other products within the limits of the Confederate States,
asked that the committee be discharged from the further consideration of the subject and that the same be referred to the Committee on Finance.
The motion was disagreed to.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
Ordered, That the Committee on Military Affairs be discharged from the further consideration of a resolution of the North Carolina State convention in relation to the battle at Roanoke Island, and that the resolution lie upon the table.
Mr. Henry asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a resolution (S. 3) relative to compensation for cotton and tobacco burnt or otherwise destroyed when liable to fall into the hands of the enemy; which was read the first and second times, by unanimous consent, and referred to the Committee on Finance.
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Message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Dixon, their Clerk:
Mr. President: I am instructed by the House of Representatives to inform the Senate that they have appointed on the Joint Committee on Public Printing, Messrs. Barksdale of Mississippi, Jenkins of Virginia, A. R. Wright of Georgia, Menees of Tennessee, and Dupré of Louisiana.
On the Joint Committee on Public Buildings, Messrs. Lyons of Virginia, Pugh of Alabama, and Currin of Tennessee.
On the Joint Committee on Flag and Seal, Messrs. Boteler of Virginia, W. R. Smith of Alabama, and Gray of Texas.
After the consideration of executive business,
On motion by Mr. Haynes,
Ordered, That Mr. Phelan be excused from serving on the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads; and
On motion by Mr. Haynes,
Ordered, That the President fill the vacancy existing in said committee; and
Mr. Simms was appointed to fill said vacancy.
On motion by Mr. Simms,
Ordered, That he be excused from serving on the said committee.
On motion by Mr. Henry,
Ordered, That the bill (S. 1) to legalize the organization of certain companies of Tennessee volunteers since December 1, 1861, be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
On motion by Mr. Johnson,
Ordered, That the Committee on Public Buildings be requested to inquire what rooms can be procured for the use of the committees of the Senate, and to report the same to the Senate.
On motion by Mr. Hunter,
The Senate adjourned until to-morrow morning at 12 o'clock.
EXECUTIVE SESSION.
The Assistant Doorkeeper, Mr. John Wadsworth, came forward and took the oath of office, and was sworn not to divulge or disclose any matter or thing coming to his knowledge within the secret sessions of the Senate.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the nominations of A. P. Hill and J. Johnston Pettigrew, on the 25th instant, reported.
Whereupon,
Resolved, That the Senate advise and consent to their appointment, agreeably to the nomination of the President.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
The Senate resolved into open legislative session.
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