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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 3, 1864.
OPEN SESSION.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 105) to provide an invalid corps, reported it without amendment.
Ordered, That it be printed.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. R. 22) of thanks to Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne and the officers and men under his command for distinguished services at Ringgold Gap, in the State of Georgia, November 27, 1863, reported it without amendment.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the joint resolution last mentioned; and no amendment being proposed, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it pass to a third reading.
The said resolution was read the third time.
Resolved, That it pass.
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Ordered, That the Secretary inform the House of Representatives thereof.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 104) amendatory of an act entitled "An act to put an end to the exemption from military service of those who have heretofore furnished substitutes," approved January 5, 1864, reported it with the recommendation that it ought not to pass.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
Ordered, That the Committee on Military Affairs be discharged from the further consideration of the resolutions passed at a meeting of the noncommissioned officers and privates of Company B, Twentieth Artillery Battalion Alabama Volunteers.
Mr. Semmes, from the Committee on Finance, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 90) to make additional appropriations for the support of the Government of the Confederate States of America for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864, reported it with amendments.
Ordered, That the bill and amendments be printed.
Mr. Dortch, from the committee, reported that they had examined and found truly enrolled bills and a joint resolution of the following titles:
The President pro tempore having signed the enrolled bills and enrolled joint resolution last reported to have been examined, they were delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and by him forthwith presented to the President of the Confederate States for his approval.
Mr. Baker, from the Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 185) for the relief of Capt. William W. Paine, assistant quartermaster of the First Georgia Regulars, reported it with the recommendation that it ought not to pass.
Mr. Sparrow submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be authorized to employ such additional clerical force for the remainder of the session as may be necessary to keep up the business of the Senate.
The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the bill (S. 192) to regulate the allowance of traveling expenses of officers of the Navy and others traveling under orders; and
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed until to-morrow.
The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the bill (S. 170) to provide for the auditing and payment of certain claims in the State of Mississippi; which was again read the second time and considered as in Committee of the Whole; and
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed until to-morrow.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration
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of the bill (S. 204) to provide and organize a general staff for armies in the field, to serve during the war.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow, to amend the bill by striking out the fifth section, as follows:
It was determined in the affirmative.
On motion by Mr. Semmes, to amend the bill by inserting the following independent section:
On motion by Mr. Sparrow.
The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators present,
Those who voted in the affirmative are,
Messrs. Baker, Johnson of Arkansas, Orr. Semmes, and Sparrow.
Those who voted in the negative are,
Messrs. Burnett, Clark, Clay, Dortch, Haynes, Hill, Hunter, Jemison, Johnson of Georgia, Johnson of Missouri, Maxwell, Oldham, Phelan, Reade, Simms, and Wigfall.
On motion by Mr. Clark, to amend the bill by striking out of the sixth section the words "already in service,"
It was determined in the affirmative.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow, to amend the bill by striking out of the sixth section the words "who have served twelve months in the field," and inserting in lieu thereof the words "who have been in the military service six months or more,"
It was determined in the negative.
On motion by Mr. Wigfall, to amend the bill by striking out the sixth section, as follows:
It was determined in the affirmative.
The bill having been further amended on the motion of Mr. Sparrow, it was reported to the Senate and the amendments were concurred in.
Ordered, That the bill be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
On the question,
Shall the bill now pass?
On motion by Mr. Wigfall,
The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators present,
Those who voted in the affirmative are,
Messrs. Burnett, Caperton, Clark, Clay, Dortch, Haynes, Henry, Hill, Hunter, Jemison, Johnson of Georgia, Johnson of Missouri, Maxwell, Orr, Phelan, Reade, Semmes, Sparrow, and Wigfall.
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So it was
Resolved, That the bill pass, and that the title thereof be as aforesaid.
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
Mr. Semmes (by leave) introduced
A bill (S. 215) to amend an act to authorize the appointment of an agent of the Treasury Department west of the Mississippi, approved January 27, 1864;
which was read the first and second times and considered as in Committee of the Whole.
On motion by Mr. Semmes, to amend the bill by striking therefrom the words
said sum having been adopted by the Senate on the passage of the original bill, but accidentally omitted by clerical error in the engrossment of the Senate amendments,
It was determined in the affirmative.
No further amendment being made, the bill was reported to the Senate and the amendment was concurred in.
Ordered, That the bill be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
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.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (S. 195) creating the office of ensign in the Army of the Confederate States; and no amendment being proposed, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
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.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (S. 146) to authorize the creditors of the Government to receive their dues in eight per cent Confederate bonds, and for other purposes; and
On motion by Mr. Orr,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed until to-morrow.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (S. 151) authorizing the issue of certain bonds of the Confederate States, and making the coupons attached to the same a legal tender in the payment of debts; and
On motion by Mr. Phelan,
Ordered, That it lie upon the table.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (S. 208) to provide compensation for officers who may heretofore have performed staff duty under orders of their superior officers.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow, to amend the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting:
That when any officer, noncommissioned officer, or private of any legally constituted military organization may have heretofore, by order of his proper superior officer, performed any staff duty appropriate to such command, he shall be entitled
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to receive pay for the time he was so engaged in the discharge of such duties: Provided, That there was not then present, fit for duty, any officer duly appointed for the discharge of the same,
It was determined in the affirmative.
No further amendment being made, the bill was reported to the Senate and the amendment was concurred in.
Ordered, That the bill be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
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.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (S. 194) to organize bodies for the capture and destruction of the enemy's property, by land or sea, and to authorize compensation for the same; and
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
Ordered, that it be transferred to the Secret Legislative Calendar.
On motion by Mr. Clay,
The Senate resolved into secret legislative session.
The doors having been opened,
On motion by Mr. Maxwell,
The Senate adjourned.
SECRET SESSION.
Mr. Dortch, from the committee, reported that they had examined and found truly enrolled
A bill (H. R. 93) to organize a Treasury note bureau.
The President pro tempore having signed the enrolled bill last reported to have been examined, it was delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and by him forthwith presented to the President of the Confederate States for his approval.
The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the bill (S. 194) to organize bodies for the capture and destruction of the enemy's property, by land or sea, and to authorize compensation for the same; and no amendment being proposed, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
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.
The following message was received from the President, of the Confederate States, by Mr. B. N. Harrison, his Secretary:
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America:
The present state of the Confederacy, in my judgment, requires that I should invite your attention to a condition of things existing in the country which has already been productive of serious evil and which threatens still graver consequences unless an adequate remedy shall be speedily applied by the legislation of Congress. It has been our cherished hope, and hitherto justified by the generous self-devotion of our citizens, that when the great struggle in which we are engaged was passed, we might exhibit to the world the proud spectacle of a people unanimous in the assertion and defense of their rights, and achieving their liberty and independence, after the bloodiest war of modern times, without the necessity of a single sacrifice of civil right to military necessity. But it can no longer be doubted that the zeal with which the people sprang to arms at the beginning of the contest has in some parts
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of the Confederacy been impaired by the long continuance and magnitude of the struggle.
While brigade after brigade of our brave soldiers who have endured the trials of the camp and battlefield are testifying their spirit and patriotism by voluntary reenlistment for the war, discontent, disaffection, and disloyalty are manifested among those who, through the sacrifices of others, have enjoyed quiet and safety at home. Public meetings have been held, in some of which a treasonable design is masked by a pretense of devotion to State sovereignty, and in others is openly avowed. Conventions are advocated with the pretended object of redressing grievances, which, if they existed, could as well be remedied by ordinary legislative action, but with the real design of accomplishing treason under the form of law. To this end a strong suspicion is entertained that secret leagues and associations are being formed. In certain localities men of no mean position do not hesitate to avow their disloyalty and hostility to our cause, and their advocacy of peace on the terms of submission and the abolition of slavery. In districts overrun by the enemy or liable to their encroachments, citizens of well-known disloyalty are holding frequent communication with them, and furnishing valuable information to our injury, even to the frustration of important military movements. And yet must they, through too strict regard to the technicalities of the law, be permitted to go at large till they have perfected their treason by the commission of an overt act? After the commission of the act the evidence is often unattainable because within the enemy's lines. Again and again such persons have been arrested, and as often they have been discharged by the civil authorities, because the Government could not procure testimony from within the lines of the enemy. On one occasion, while a party of officers were laying a torpedo in James River, persons on shore were detected in communicating with the enemy, and were known to pilot them to tea convenient post for observing the nature of the service in which the party were engaged. They were arrested, and were discharged on habeas corpus, because, although there was moral certainty of their guilt, it could net be proved by competent testimony. Twice the Government has received secret and confidential information of plots to release the prisoners confined in Richmond. The information was sufficiently definite to enable preventive measures to be adopted with success; but as it pointed out the guilty conspirators by strong suspicion only, and not by competent testimony, they could not be arrested, and are still at large, ready to plot again. A citizen possessing the means and opportunity of doing much injury to the service was arrested for disloyalty. He was twice examined before different commissioners. Upon each examination he avowed his hostility to our cause and his desire to join the enemy. Both commissioners considered that it would be dangerous to suffer him to go at large. Yet, upon the demand of the civil authorities, he had to be released for want of competent legal testimony.
The capital of the Government is the object of peculiar attention to the enemy. I have satisfactory reasons for believing that spies are continually coming and going in our midst. Information has been repeatedly received from friendly parties at the North that particular individuals then in Richmond were sent as spies by the enemy. Yet, however accurate and reliable such information might be, it was not competent testimony; and it was idle to arrest them, only to be discharged by the civil authorities. Important information of secret movements among the negroes, fomented by base white men, has been received from faithful servants, but no arrests of instigators could be made because there was no competent testimony. Apprehensions have more than once been entertained of a servile insurrection in Richmond. The Northern papers inform us that Butler is perfecting some deep-laid scheme to punish us for our refusal to hold intercourse with him. If, as is not improbable, his design should point to servile insurrection in Richmond, incendiarism, and the destruction of public works, so necessary to our defense, and so impossible to be replaced, how can we hope to fathom it and reach the guilty emissaries and contrivers but by incompetent negro testimony?
In some of the States civil process has been brought to bear with disastrous efficiency upon the Army. Every judge has power to issue the writ of habeas corpus, and if one manifests more facility in discharging petitioners than his associates the application is made to him, however remote he may be. In one instance a general, on the eve of an important movement, when every man was needed, was embarrassed by the command of a judge, more than two hundred miles distant, to bring, if in his custody, or send, if in custody of another, before him on habeas corpus, some deserters who had been arrested and returned to his command. In another, the commandant of a camp of conscripts, who had a conscript in camp, was commanded to bring him before a judge, more than a hundred miles distant, although there was a judge competent to hear and determine the cause resident in the place where the writ was executed. He consulted eminent counsel and was advised that, from the
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known opinions of the judge selected, the conscript would undoubtedly be released, and the officer was therefore advised to discharge him at once and return the facts informally; that such a return was not technically sufficient, but would be accepted, as accomplishing the purpose of the writ. He acted on the advice of his counsel, and was immediately summoned by the judge to show cause why he should not be attached for a contempt in making an insufficient return, and was compelled to leave his command at a time when his services were pressingly needed by the Government, and travel over a hundred miles, and a considerable distance away from any railroad, to purge himself of the technical contempt. These particular instances may serve to show the nature of the delays, difficulties, and embarrassments which are constantly occurring. And injurious as they are, they are hut light and trivial in comparison with evils which are reasonably to be anticipated.
It is understood that questions are to be multiplied as to the constitutionality of the late act of Congress placing in the military service those who had furnished substitutes. If a single judge in any State should hold the act to be unconstitutional, it is easy to foresee that that State will either furnish no soldiers from this class, or furnish them only when too late for the pressing need of the country. Every application will be made to that particular judge, and he will discharge the petitioners in each. And although the officer may have the right of appeal, yet the delay will be tantamount in its consequences to a discharge. Indeed, this result is likely to ensue, though every judge in the Confederacy should hold the law to be perfectly constitutional and valid. A petition for a habeas corpus heed not, and ordinarily does not, disclose the particular grounds upon which the petitioner claims his discharge. A general statement on oath that he is illegally restrained of his liberty is sufficient to induce and even to require the judge to issue the writ. In every case the enrollment will he followed by the writ, and every enrolling officer will be kept in continual motion to and from the judge until the embarrassment and delay will amount to the practical repeal of the law. Its provisions will add no more soldiers to the Army. But this is not all. We shall not he able to retain those already in service. Nothing has done so much to inspirit our brave soldiers as the determination evinced by Congress to send to their aid those who have thus far lived in ease at home, while they were enduring dangers, tolls, and privations. When the hope of equal justice and of speedy reenforcement shall thus have failed, disappointment and despondency will displace the buoyant fortitude which animates them now. Desertion, already a frightful evil, will become the. order of the day, and who will arrest the deserter when most of those at home are engaged with him in the common cause of setting the Government at defiance? Organized bands of deserters will patrol the country, burning, plundering and robbing indiscriminately; and our armies, already too weak, must he still further depleted, at the most imminent crisis of our cause, to keep the peace and protect the lives and property of the citizens at home. Must these evils be endured? Must the independence for which we are contending, the safety of the defenseless families of the men who have fallen in battle and of those who still confront the invader, be put in peril for the sake of conformity to the technicalities of the law of treason?
Having thus presented some of the threatening evils which exist, it remains to suggest the remedy. And in my judgment that is only to be found in the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. It is a sharp remedy, but a necessary one. It is a remedy plainly contemplated by the Constitution. All the powers of the Government extraordinary as well as ordinary are a sacred trust, to be faithfully executed whenever the public exigency may require. Recognizing the general obligation, we can not escape from the duty in one case more than in another. And a suspension of this writ when demanded by the public safety is as much a duty as to levy taxes for the support of the Government. If the state, of invasion declared by the Constitution to be a proper case for the exercise of this power does not exist in our country now, when can it ever he expected to arise? It is idle to appeal against it to the history of the old Union. That history contains no parallel case. England, whose reverence for this great writ of right is at least as strong as our own, and the stability of whose institutions is the admiration of the world, has repeatedly, within the last hundred years, resorted to this remedy when only threatened with invasion. It may occasion some clamor; but this will proceed chiefly from the men who have already too long been the active spirits of evil. Loyal citizens will not feel danger, and the disloyal must be made to fear it. The very existence of extraordinary powers often renders their exercise unnecessary. To temporize with disloyalty in the midst of war is but to quicken it to the growth of treason. I, therefore, respectfully recommend that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus be suspended.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Richmond, Va., February 3, 1864.
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The message was read.
Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell,
The Senate resolved into open legislative session.
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