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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, February 24, 1862.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume 2]
MONDAY, February 24, 1862.

OPEN SESSION.

Mr. Orr, from the committee to draft and report standing rules and orders for conducting business in the Senate, presented the following report:

Rules for conducting business in the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
• I. The President having taken the chair, and a quorum being present, the Journal of the preceding day shall be read, and any mistakes in the entries shall, upon motion, then be corrected.
• II. No Senator shall speak to another, or otherwise interrupt the business of the Senate, while the Journals or public papers are being read, or when any Senator is speaking in debate.
• III. Every Senator, when he speaks, shall address the Chair, standing in his place, and when he has finished shall sit down.
• IV. No Senator shall speak more than twice in any one debate, on the same question, and on the same day, without leave of a majority of the Senators present.
• V. When two or more Senators rise at the same time, the President shall name the one to speak; but in all cases the Senator who shall first rise and address the Chair shall speak first.
• VI. The President shall preserve order and decorum; may speak to points of order in preference to any Senator, rising from his seat for that purpose; and shall decide questions of order, subject to an appeal by any Senator to the decision of the Senate; he may also take the sense of the Senate on any question of order at his own instance; and may call any Senator to the chair to preside temporarily, not to extend beyond that day's session.
• VII. The duties and powers of the President pro tempore, when occupying the chair, shall be the same as those of the President in these rules specified.
• VIII. When any Senator is called to order by the President or any Senator, he shall sit down, and shall not proceed without leave of the Senate; and every question of order shall be decided by the President without debate, subject to an appeal to the body.
• IX. If any Senator be called to order by another Senator for words spoken, the exceptionable words spoken shall immediately be taken down in writing, that the President may be better able to judge the matter.
• X. No Senator shall, in debate, use any language reflecting injuriously upon the character, motives, honor, or integrity of any other Senator.
• XI. No motion shall be debated until the same shall receive a second; and when a motion shall be made and seconded, it shall be reduced to writing, if desired by the

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  President or any Senator, delivered in at the table and read, before the same shall be debated.

• XII. Any motion or proposition may be withdrawn by the mover at any time before a decision, amendment, or other action of the Senate upon it, except a motion to reconsider, which shall not be withdrawn without leave of the body.
• XIII. When a question has been once made and carried in the affirmative or negative, a motion to reconsider shall be entertained at the instance of any Senator, if made on the same day on which the vote was taken, or within the next two days of actual session. When a motion to reconsider shall be made, its consideration shall take precedence of the regular order of business, unless a majority of the Senators present shall otherwise determine.
• XIV. When a question is under debate, no motion (except one to reconsider some other question passed upon) shall be received but to adjourn, to lie on the table, to postpone indefinitely, to postpone to a day certain, to commit or amend, which several motions shall have precedence in the order they stand arranged, and the motion to adjourn shall always be in order and decided without debate; but a motion to reconsider shall be received and entered, if made after a motion to adjourn and before it is decided.
• XV. If the question for decision contains several parts, any Senator may have the same divided; but on a motion to strike out and insert, it shall not be in order to move for a division of the question; and the rejection of a motion to strike out and insert one proposition shall not prevent a motion to strike out and insert a different proposition, nor prevent a subsequent motion simply to strike out; nor shall the rejection of a motion simply to strike out prevent a subsequent motion to strike out and insert.
• XVI. In filling up blanks, the largest sum and the longest time shall be first put.
• XVII. The unfinished business in which the Senate may be engaged on adjournment shall be the first business in order on the next day's sitting.
• XVIII. After the Journal is read and the unfinished business, if any, of the previous day's sitting is disposed of, the regular order of business shall be as follows: First, the call of the States, alphabetically, for memorials, or any matter, measure, resolution, bill, or proposition which any Senator may desire to bring before the Senate. Second, the call of committees for reports--the call of committees to be made in the order of their appointment--such reports of committees as may not be otherwise disposed of when made, as well as all bills and resolutions introduced by individual Senators not similarly disposed of, shall be numbered in the order in which they are presented, and be placed in that order on the calendar of the regular orders of the day. The call of committees or States each day to be resumed where it may be left off the day preceding. Third, the calendar of the regular orders of the day shall then be taken up, and every resolution, proposition, bill, or measure shall be disposed of in the order in which it there stands. No special order shall be made against this rule, except by a vote of a majority of Senators present, and such majority may at any time change the order of business.
• XIX. Executive messages, communications from the heads of Departments, as well as messages and bills from the House of Representatives, shall be disposed of in the order in which they may be respectively received, at such time as a majority of the Senators present may direct.
• XX. Every resolution, bill, or measure, requiring the concurrent action of both Houses of Congress, shall receive three readings previous to its being put upon its passage. The President shall give notice at each reading whether it be the first, second, or third reading. No such resolution, bill, or measure shall be committed or amended until it shall have been twice read, after which it may be subject to a motion to amend or to refer to a committee. And all such matters on second reading shall first be considered by the Senate in the same manner as if the Senate were in Committee of the Whole; the final question on the second reading of any matter not referred to committee shall be "whether it shall be engrossed and read a third time," and no amendment shall be received after the engrossment for a third reading has been ordered. But it shall at all times be in order, before the final passage or action on any matter, to move its commitment; and should such commitment take place, and any amendment be reported by the committee, the whole shall again be read a second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole, and then the aforesaid question shall again be put.
• XXI. After any matter is ordered to be engrossed, and it has been read a third time, the question shall be, "Shall the resolution (or the matter, whatever it may be) now pass?"
• XXII. A majority, of the Senate may dispense with the actual engrossment of the bill before it is put on its passage.

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• XXIII. All bills and joint resolutions, on the first and second reading, may be read by the title, unless the reading of the whole shall be desired by a majority of the Senators present, and the third reading of an engrossed bill shall be by the title.
• XXIV. The titles of resolutions, bills, and other matters submitted, and such parts thereof only as may be affected by proposed amendments, shall be inserted on the Journals.
• XXV. No motion for the previous question shall be entertained, but upon the call of any Senator for the question, if seconded by a majority of the Senators present, the vote shall immediately be taken on the pending question, whatever it may be without further debate.
• XXVI. A motion to lay any amendment on the table prevailing, shall carry with it only the amendment, and not the original proposition or matter.
• XXVII. No Senator shall absent himself from the service of the Senate without leave of the Senate first obtained, and a majority of the Senators present at any time are hereby authorized to send the Sergeant-at-Arms, or any other person or persons by them named, for any or all absent Senators, at the expense of such absent Senator or Senators, unless such excuse for nonattendance shall be made as the Senate may judge sufficient, and in that case the expense shall be paid out of the contingent fund. This rule to apply as well to the first, convention of the Senate at the legal time of meeting, as to each day of the session after the hour has arrived to which the Senate may stand adjourned.
• XXVIII. When the yeas and nays shall be called for by one-fifth of the Senators present, each Senator called upon shall declare openly, and without debate, his assent or dissent to the question, unless for special reason he be excused by the Senate. In taking the yeas and nays, land upon a call of the Senate, the names of the Senators s all be taken alphabetically.
• XXIX. When the yeas and nays shall be taken upon any question in pursuance of the above rule, no Senator shall be permitted, except by the unanimous consent of the Senate, to vote after the decision is announced from the Chair.
• XXX. When the Senators are equally divided on any question, the Secretary shall take the decision of the President.
• XXXI. The following standing committees shall be appointed at the beginning of each session, with leave to report by bill or otherwise:
  • A Committee on Foreign Relations, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on Finance, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on Commerce, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on Military Affairs, to consist, of five members;
  • A Committee on Naval Affairs, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on the Judiciary, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on Indian Affairs, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, to consist of five members;
  • A Committee on Public Lands, to consist of three members;
  • A Committee on Patents and Patent Office, to consist of three members;
  • A Committee on Claims, to consist of three members;
  • A Committee on Territories, to consist of three members;
  • A Committee on Accounts, to consist of three members, to whom shall be referred all resolutions directing the payment of money out of the contingent fund of the Senate, or creating a charge on the same;
  • A Committee on Printing, to consist of three members; and
  • A Committee on Engrossment and Enrollment, to consist of three members.
• XXXII. in the appointment of the standing committees, the Senate shall proceed, by ballot, severally to appoint the chairman of each committee, and then by one ballot the other members necessary to complete the same, and a majority of all the votes given shall be necessary to a choice of a chairman of a standing committee. (All other committees may be appointed by the President unless otherwise directed by the Senate.)
• XXXIII. When motions are made for reference of the same subject to a select committee and to a standing committee, the question on reference to the standing committee shall be first put.
• XXXIV. All confidential communications made by the President of the Confederate States to the Senate shall be by the Senators kept secret, and all treaties which may be laid before the Senate shall also be kept secret until the Senate shall by their resolution take off the injunction of secrecy.
• XXXV. All information or remarks in the Senate touching or concerning the character or qualifications of any person nominated by the President to office shall be kept a secret, except to the person involved, or, in his absence, to his agent or friend; but in no event shall the name of a Senator making charges or remarks be disclosed, under penalty of expulsion.

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• XXXVI. When acting on confidential or executive business, the Senate shall be cleared of all persons except the Secretary and his assistants, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Doorkeeper, and the Assistant Doorkeeper, all of which officers shall take an oath, to be administered by the President of the Senate, not to divulge or disclose any matter or thing coming to their knowledge within the secret session of the Senate.
• XXXVII. The legislative proceedings, the executive proceedings, and the confidential legislative proceedings shall be kept in separate and distinct books.
• XXXVIII. The President of the Confederate States shall, from time to time, be furnished with an authenticated transcript of the executive records of the Senate, and all nominations approved or definitely acted on by the Senate shall be returned by the Secretary, from day to day, as such proceedings may occur; but no further extract from the Executive Journal shall be furnished except by special order; and no paper, except original treaties, transmitted to the Senate by the President of the Confederate States, or any executive officer, shall be returned or delivered from the office of the Secretary without an order of the Senate for that purpose.
• XXXIX. Messages shall be sent to the House of Representatives by the Secretary or his assistant.
• XL. Messages shall be received in any state of business, except when a question is being put, while the yeas and nays are being called, or while the ballots are being counted.
• XLI. No motion shall be deemed in order to admit any person or persons whatsoever within the doors of the Senate Chamber to present any petition, memorial, or address, or to hear any such read.
• XLII. Stenographers and reporters for the press wishing to take down the proceedings of the Senate may be admitted by the President, who shall assign to them such places on the floor to effect their object as shall not interfere with the convenience of the Senators.
• XLIII. On motion made by any Senator seconded by another to close the doors on the presentation or discussion of any matter which may, in the opinion of such Senator, require secrecy, the President shall direct the doors to be closed, and during the discussion of such question no one shall be permitted to remain within the Senate Chamber but the President, the Senators, and the officers of the body as in case of executive session.
• XLIV. Any officer or Senator convicted of disclosing any matter directed by the body to be held in confidence shall be liable, if an officer, to dismissal from service, and in case of a Senator, to suffer expulsion from the body.
• XLV. All motions to print extra copies of any bill, report, or other document shall be referred to the Committee on Printing.
• XLVI. During the existence of war, all propositions affecting our foreign relations, or relating to the public defense, shall be submitted and acted on in secret session.
• XLVII. All cases that may arise in the proceedings of the Senate not provided for in the foregoing rules, shall be governed by the general principles of parliamentary law as laid down in Jefferson's Manual.
• XLVIII. The rules may be amended by a majority of Senators on one day's notice being given.

On motion by Mr. Orr,

Ordered, That the committee have leave to sit again.

On motion by Mr. Orr,

Ordered, That the rules aforesaid be printed, and that the chairman of the committee appointed to draft the same superintend the printing thereof.

Message from the House of Representatives, by their Clerk, Mr. Dixon:

Mr. President: I am instructed by the House of Representatives to inform the Senate that they have adopted the following resolution, to wit:

"Resolved, That the Speaker appoint the following committees, to act with like committees on the part of the Senate:

• "Committee on Printing, to consist of five members of this House.
• "Committee on Buildings for the use of this Government, to consist of three members of this House.
• "Committee on Flag and Seal of the Confederacy, to consist of three members of this House."

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Mr. Brown asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 9) to levy. a war tax on cotton produced in the year 1862; which was read the first and second times, by unanimous consent, and considered as in Committee of the Whole.

On motion by Mr. Hunter,

Ordered, That it lie on the table and be printed.

Mr. Johnson asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to bring in a bill (S. 3) to provide for the organization of the Arkansas and Red River Superintendency of Indian Affairs; which was read the first and second times, by unanimous consent; and

On motion by Mr. Johnson,

Ordered, That it lie upon the table and be printed.

Mr. Phelan presented a resolution of the legislature of Mississippi in relation to the shipment of cotton.

On motion by Mr. Hunter,

Ordered, That it lie upon the table and be printed.

Mr. Hunter presented a resolution of the legislature of Virginia in relation to increasing the pay of noncommissioned officers and privates in the Confederate Army.

On motion by Mr. Hunter,

Ordered, That it lie upon the table and be printed.

Mr. Dortch presented a resolution of the State convention of North Carolina relating to the reenlistment of volunteers.

On motion by Mr. Dortch,

Ordered, That it lie upon the table and be printed.

On motion by Mr. Hunter,

The Senate adjourned until to-morrow morning at 12 o'clock.

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