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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 23, 1863.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume 3]
MONDAY, March 23, 1863.

OPEN SESSION.

Mr. Clay (by leave) introduced

A bill (S. 88) in relation to the custody of persons charged with offenses against the Confederate States;

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which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. Clay (by leave) introduced

A bill (S. 89) to abolish supernumerary offices in the Commissary's and Quartermaster's Departments;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Sparrow submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing for the transmission of foreign mail matter by the way of Matamoras and Havana, in such manner as may be deemed most practicable.

Mr. Phelan (by leave) introduced

A bill (S. 90) to continue in force an act entitled "An act, 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," approved May 16, 1861;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. Brown (by leave) introduced

A bill (S. 91) to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to pay officers of the Navy their necessary and actual traveling expenses under orders, in lieu of mileage, in certain cases:
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McDonald:

Mr. President: The Speaker of the House of Representatives having signed an enrolled bill, I am directed to bring it to the Senate for the signature of their President.

Mr. Haynes, from the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (H. R. 9) to authorize and regulate the impressment of private property for the use of the Army and other military purposes, reported

That they have met the conferees on the part, of the House, and, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses:

That the House of Representatives agree to the amendment of the Senate, with the following amendment: Strike out all after the word "That," in the second line of the first section, and insert:
"whenever the exigencies of any army in the field are such as to make impressments of forage, articles of subsistence or other property absolutely necessary, then such impressment may be made by the officer or officers whose duty it is to furnish such forage, articles of subsistence, or other property for such army. In cases where the owner of such property and the impressing officer can not agree upon the value thereof, it shall be the duty of such impressing officer, upon an affidavit in writing of the owner of such property or his agent, that such property was grown, raised, or produced by said owner, or is held or has been purchased by him not for sale or speculation, but for his own use or consumption, to cause the same to be ascertained and determined by the judgment of two loyal and disinterested citizens of the city, county, or parish in which such impressment may be made, one to be selected by the owner, one by the impressing officer, and in the event of their disagreement, these two shall choose an umpire of like qualification, whose decision shall be final. The persons thus selected, after taking an oath to appraise the property impressed fairly and impartially (which oath, as well as the affidavit provided for in this section, the impressing officer is hereby authorized to administer and certify), shall proceed to assess just compensation for the property so impressed, whether the absolute ownership or the temporary use thereof only is required.

• "Sec. 2. That the officer or person impressing property as aforesaid shall, at the time of said taking, pay to the owner, his agent or attorney, the compensation fixed

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  by said appraisers, and shall also give to the owner or person controlling said property a certificate, over his official signature, specifying the battalion, regiment, brigade, division, or corps to which he belongs, that said property is essential for the use of the Army, could not be otherwise procured, and was taken through absolute necessity; setting forth the time and place when and where taken, the amount of compensation fixed by said appraisers, and the sum, if any, paid for the same. Said certificate shall be evidence for the owner, as well of the taking of said property for the public use, as the right of the owner to the amount of compensation fixed as aforesaid. And in case said officer or person taking said property shall have failed to pay the owner or his agent said compensation as hereinbefore required, then said owner shall be entitled to the speedy payment of the same by the proper disbursing officer, which, when so paid, shall be in full satisfaction of all claim against the Government of the Confederate States.

• "Sec. 3. Whenever the appraisement provided for in the first section of this act shall for any reason be impracticable at the time of said impressment, then and in that case, the value of the property impressed shall be assessed as soon as possible by two loyal and disinterested citizens of the city, county, or parish wherein the property was taken, chosen as follows: one by the owner and one by the Commissary or Quartermaster General, or his agent, who, in case of disagreement, shall choose a third citizen of like qualification as an umpire to decide the matters in dispute, who shall be sworn as aforesaid, who shall hear the proofs adduced by the parties as to the value of said property, and assess a just compensation therefor, according to the testimony.
• "Sec. 4. That whenever the Secretary of War shall be of opinion that it is necessary to take private property for public use, by reason of the impracticability of procuring the same by purchase, so as to accumulate necessary supplies for the Army, or the good of the service, in any locality, he may, by general order, through the proper subordinate officers, authorize such property to be taken for the public use, the compensation due the owner for the same to be determined and the value found, as provided for in the first and second sections of this act.
• "Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of the President, as early as practicable after the passage of this act, to appoint a commissioner in each State where property shall be taken for the public use, and request the governor of such of the States in which the President shall appoint said commissioners to appoint another commissioner to act in conjunction with the commissioner appointed by the President, who shall receive the compensation of eight dollars per day and ten cents per mile as mileage, to be paid by the Confederate Government. Said commissioners shall constitute a board, whose duty it shall be to fix upon the prices to be paid by the Government for all property impressed or taken for the public use, as aforesaid, so as to afford just compensation to the owners thereof. Said commissioners shall agree upon and publish a schedule of prices every two months, or oftener, if they shall deem it proper; and in the event they shall not be able to agree in any matter confided to them in this act, they shall have power to appoint an umpire to decide the matter in dispute, whose decision shall be the decision of the board; and said umpire shall receive the same rate of compensation for the time be shall serve, allowed to said commissioners, respectively: Provided, That said commissioners shall be residents of the State for which they shall be appointed, and if the governor of any State shall refuse or neglect to appoint said commissioner within ten days after a request to do so by the President, the President shall appoint both commissioners, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
• "Sec. 6. That all property impressed or taken for the public use, as aforesaid, in the hands of any person other than the persons who have raised, grown, or produced the same, or persons holding the same for their own use or consumption, and who shall make the affidavit hereinbefore required, shall be paid for according to the schedule of prices fixed by the commissioners as aforesaid. But if the officer impressing or taking for the public use said property and the owner shall differ as to the quality of the article or property impressed or taken as aforesaid, thereby making it fall within a higher or lower price named in the schedule, then the owner or agent and the officer impressing or taking as aforesaid may select each a loyal and disinterested citizen, of the qualifications as aforesaid, to determine the quality of said article or property, who shall, in case of disagreement, appoint an umpire of like qualifications, and his decision, if approved by the officer impressing, shall be final. But if not approved, the impressing officer shall send the award to the commissioners of the State where the property is impressed, with his reasons for disapproving the same, and said commissioners may hear such proofs as the parties may, respectively, adduce, and their decision shall be final: Provided, That the owner may receive the price offered by the impressing officer, without prejudice to his claim to receive the higher compensation.

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• "Sec. 7. That the property necessary for the support of the owner and his family, and to carry on his ordinary agricultural and mechanical business, to be ascertained by the appraisers to be appointed as provided in the first section of this act under oath, shall not be taken or impressed for the public use; and when the impressing officer and the owner can not agree as to the quantity of property necessary as aforesaid, then the decision of the said appraisers shall be binding on the officer and all other persons.
• "Sec. 8. Where property has been impressed for temporary use, and is lost or destroyed, without the default of the owner, the Government of the Confederate States shall pay a just compensation therefor, to be ascertained by appraisers appointed and qualified as provided in the third section of this act. If such property when returned has, in the opinion of the owner, been injured whilst in the public use, the amount of damage thereby sustained shall be determined in the manner described in the third section of this act, the officer returning the property being authorized to act on behalf of the Government; and upon such inquiry the certificate of the value of the property when originally impressed shall be received as prima facie evidence of the value thereof.
• "Sec. 9. Where slaves are impressed by the Confederate Government to labor on fortifications or other public works, the impressment shall be made by said Government according to the rules and regulations prescribed in the laws of the State wherein they are impressed; and, in the absence of such law, in accordance with such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as the Secretary of War shall, from time to time, prescribe: Provided, That no impressment of slaves shall be made when they can be hired or procured by the consent of the owner or agent.
• "Sec. 10. That previous to the first day of December next, no slave laboring on a farm or plantation, exclusively devoted to the production of grain and provisions, shall be taken for the public use without the consent of the owner, except in case of urgent necessity.
• "Sec. 11. That any commissioned or noncommissioned officer or private who shall violate the provisions of this act shall be tried before the military court of the corps to which he is attached, on complaint made by the owner or other person, and, on conviction, if an officer, he shall be cashiered and put into the ranks as a private, and if a noncommissioned officer or private he shall suffer such punishment, not inconsistent with military law, as the court may direct."

And that the title of the bill be amended so as to read: "An act to regulate impressments."

The Senate proceeded to consider the said report; and

On motion by Mr. Sparrow,

Ordered, That it be postponed to and made the special order for to-morrow, and that it be printed.

A message from the President of the Confederate States, by Mr. B. N. Harrison, his Secretary:

Mr. President: The President of the Confederate States, on the 20th instant, approved and signed an act (S. 8) to provide and organize engineer troops to serve during the war.

Ordered, That the Secretary inform the House of Representatives thereof.

Mr. Dortch, from the committee, reported that they had examined and found truly enrolled

A bill (S. 11) to provide for the funding and further issue of Treasury notes.

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. 5) to establish the court for the investigation of claims against the Government of the Confederate States.

On motion by Mr. Davis, to amend the bill by inserting after the word "States," section 12, line 5, the words "and the court may, at

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its discretion, grant appeals to the Supreme Court from interlocutory orders in any case,"

It was determined in the negative.

On motion by Mr. Hill, to amend the bill by filling the blank in the second line of the twelfth section with "ten thousand,"

It was determined in the negative.

On motion by Mr. Davis, to amend the bill by filling the said blank with "five thousand,"

It was determined in the affirmative.

On motion by Mr. Hill, to amend the bill by filling the blank in the seventh line of the twelfth section with "sixty,"

It was determined in the affirmative.

On motion by Mr. Davis, to amend the bill by inserting after the word "rendered," section 12, line 7, the words
but if the judgment be rendered within the, last twenty days of the term, the application may he made within the first twenty days of the next term,

It was determined in the affirmative.

On motion by Mr. Orr, to amend the bill by striking out the twelfth section and inserting:

That said court shall, at the commencement of each session of Congress, and at the commencement of each month during the session of Congress, report to Congress the cases upon which they shall have finally acted, stating in each the material facts which they find established by the evidence, with their judgment in the case. Any judge who may dissent from the opinion of the majority shall append his reasons therefor; such report, together with the briefs of the solicitor and the claimant, upon being made to either House of Congress, shall be printed in the same maimer as other public documents. And said court shall prepare a bill, or bills in those cases which may receive the favorable decision thereof, in such form as, if enacted, will carry the same into effect And two or more cases may be embraced in the same bill where the separate amount proposed to be allowed in each case shall be less than one thousand dollars. And the said court shall transmit with said reports the testimony in each case, whether the same shall receive the favorable or adverse action of said court,

It was determined in the negative,
• Yeas ... 10
• Nays ... 12

On motion by Mr. Orr,

The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators present,

Those who voted in the affirmative are,

Messrs. Barnwell, Brown, Clay, Hunter, Johnson of Arkansas, Mitchel, Orr, Peyton, Semmes, and Wigfall.

Those who voted in the negative are,

Messrs. Baker, Caperton, Clark, Davis, Dortch, Haynes, Henry, Hill, Maxwell, Oldham, Phelan, and Sparrow.

On motion by Mr. Haynes,

The Senate resolved into executive session.

The doors having been opened,

On motion by Mr. Orr,

The Senate adjourned.

SECRET SESSION.

On motion by Mr. Barnwell,

Ordered, That the Committee on Finance be discharged from the further consideration of the resolution submitted by Mr. Henry on the 19th instant, instructing said committee to inquire into the truth of the allegation that the brokers and others in the city of Richmond are publicly offering the currency of the United States known as

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"greenbacks," for sale or exchange for Confederate money, at a ruinous discount on the latter, etc., and that it be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

On motion by Mr. Maxwell,

The Senate resolved into open legislative session.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

The following message was received from the President of the Confederate States, by Mr. B. N. Harrison, his Secretary:

Richmond, March 21, 1863.

To the Senate of the Confederate States:

Agreeably to the recommendation of the Attorney-General, I hereby nominate John L. Sehon, to be attorney for the middle district of Tennessee.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Confederate States of America, Department of Justice,
Richmond, March 17, 1863.

To the President.

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following nomination for appointment in this Department:

• John L. Sehon, to be attorney for the middle district of Tennessee.

Your obedient servant,

T. H. WATTS, Attorney-General.

The message was read.

The Senate proceeded to consider the nomination of John L. Sehon, to be attorney for the middle district of Tennessee; and

Resolved, That the Senate advise and consent to his appointment, agreeably to the nomination of the President.

On motion by Mr. Barnwell,

The Senate resolved into secret legislative session.

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