A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --WEDNESDAY, April 15, 1863.
Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume 3]
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Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume 3]
WEDNESDAY, April 15, 1863.
OPEN SESSION.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell,
Ordered, That the Hon. James M. Baker have leave of absence from the sessions of the Senate during the remainder of the present session.
Mr. Caperton (by leave) introduced
A bill (S. 116) to authorize the Secretary of War to purchase or lease real estate;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
On motion by Mr. Davis,
Ordered, That the Committee on Claims be discharged from the further consideration of the following subjects:
Mr. Yancey (by leave) introduced
A joint resolution (S. 13) of thanks to Gen. G. T. Beauregard and the officers and soldiers under his command in the battle in Charleston Harbor on the 7th of April, 1863; which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (H. R. 27) explanatory of an act entitled "An act to authorize the President to accept and place in the service certain regiments and battalions heretofore raised," approved on the 11th day of October, 1862; and no amendment being made, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it pass to a third reading.
he said bill was read the third time.
Resolved, That it pass.
Ordered, That the Secretary inform the House of Representatives thereof.
A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McDonald:
Mr. President: The House of Representatives have passed bills of the Senate of the following titles:
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S. 14. An act to authorize newspapers to be mailed to soldiers free of postage;
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S. 17. An act relating to appeals from the Commissioner of Patents;
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S. 24. An act to authorize the Commissioner of Patents to purchase books for the library of the Patent Office; and
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S. 100. An act to amend an act to establish the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The first named with an amendment; in which they request the concurrence of the Senate.
And they have passed bills and a joint resolution of the following titles; in which they request the concurrence of the Senate:
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H. R. 36. An act to amend the first section of an act entitled "An act to amend the laws relative to the compensation of attorneys of the Confederate States," approved March 15, 1861;
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H. R. 37. An act to authorize the President to offer rewards for the apprehension of fugitives from justice;
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H. R. 38. An act supplemental to an act to establish judicial courts in certain Indian Territories, approved February 15, 1862;
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H. R. 39. An act to provide certain regulations for holding elections for Delegates to the Congress of the Confederate States in certain Indian nations; and
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H. R. 8. Joint resolution relating to martial law.
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.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell, that the vote by which the bill (S. 110) to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to purchase a site for a laboratory and magazine, near the city of Richmond, for the preparation and safe-keeping of ordnance stores was indefinitely postponed be reconsidered,
It was determined in the affirmative.
The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of said bill.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell, to amend the bill by striking out "purchase," in the fourth line, and inserting "lease,"
On motion by Mr. Yancey, to amend the proposed amendment by inserting after "lease" the words "proper buildings,"
It was determined in the negative,
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Yeas ... 8
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Nays ... 12
On motion by Mr. Yancey,
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The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the Senators present,
Those who voted in the affirmative are,
Messrs. Davis, Dortch, Haynes, Henry, Johnson of Arkansas, Mitchel, Peyton, and Yancey.
Those who voted in the negative are,
Messrs. Brown, Burnett, Caperton, Clark, Hunter, Johnson of Georgia, Maxwell, Oldham, Orr, Phelan, Sparrow, and Wigfall.
On the question to agree to the amendment proposed by Mr. Maxwell,
It was determined in the affirmative.
On motion by Mr. Yancey, to amend the bill by inserting after "lease," line 4, the words "for a period not exceeding five years."
It was determined in the affirmative.
On motion by Mr. Brown, to amend the bill by inserting after "lease," line 4, the words "with or without buildings, as he may deem most expedient,"
It was determined in the affirmative.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell, to amend the bill by striking out the words "for the erection of a laboratory and magazine," line 5,
It was determined in the affirmative.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell, to amend the bill by striking out "purchased," line 8, and inserting "leased,"
It was determined in the affirmative.
No further amendment being made, the bill 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 and the title was amended.
Resolved, That it pass, and that the title thereof be "An act to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to lease a site, near the city of Richmond, for the preparation and safe-keeping of ordnance stores."
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McDonald:
Mr. President: The House of Representatives have passed a joint resolution of the Senate (S. 1) for the relief of Capt. John F. Divine.
And they have passed bills and a joint resolution of the following titles; in which they request the concurrence of the Senate:
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H. R. 40. An act to prescribe the rates of postage on newspapers, periodicals, books, and transient and other matter, and to repeal in part the second section of the act approved May 13, 1861, to amend an act to prescribe the rates of postage in the Confederate States of America, and for other purposes, approved February 23, 1861;
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H. R. 41. An act to provide for the payment of the interest on the removal and subsistence fund due the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina; and
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H. R. 9. Joint resolution for the relief of H. H. Epping.
The bills and joint resolutions received this day from the House of Representatives for concurrence were severally read the first and second times.
Ordered, That the bills numbered 36, 37, and 38, and the joint resolution numbered 8, be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; that the bills numbered 39 and 41 be referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs; that the bill numbered 40 be referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, and that the joint resolution numbered 9 be referred to the Committee on Claims.
The Senate proceeded to consider the amendment of the House of Representatives to the bill (S. 14) to authorize newspapers to be mailed to soldiers free of postage; and
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Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads.
Mr. Dortch, from the committee, reported that they had examined and found truly enrolled
A bill (H. R. 17) to aid committees of Congress in the investigation of matters referred to them, and to punish false swearing before said committees.
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.
Mr. Hill, from the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (H. R. 29) to amend an act entitled "An act to secure copyrights to authors and composers," approved May 21, 1861, reported
That they had met the committee on the part of the House of Representatives, and, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:
That the Senate recede from their amendment to the second section of said bill; and that the following be inserted at the end of the said section: "Provided, That nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prejudice any interest which may be held by a loyal citizen of the Confederate States, other than the author in any copyright owned by an alien enemy, or the rights of the Confederate States under the sequestration acts, to the copies of any book, map, musical composition, print, or engraving published by an alien enemy."
The Senate proceeded to consider said report; and
Resolved, That they concur therein, and that the bill be amended accordingly.
Ordered, That the Secretary inform the House of Representatives thereof.
Mr. Sparrow, from the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill (S. 27) defining who shall be exempt from military service in the armies of the Confederate States, reported
That they had met the committee on the part of the House of Representatives, and, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:
That the Senate agree to the amendment of the House to said bill, with the amendments herewith submitted, and that the House of Representatives concur in said amendments--the bill reported by the committee being as follows:
"A bill to exempt certain persons from military duty, and to repeal the acts heretofore passed by Congress on the same subject.
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"Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That certain persons, as hereinafter provided, are, and shall be, exempt from military service in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States:
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"I. Those who shall be held unfit for service in the field by reason of bodily or mental incapacity--to be ascertained by a surgeon of the Army who is not a resident of the part of the country from which those he is called upon to examine may have come--and persons declared to be unfit for duty in the field under this act or under the act entitled 'An act to establish places of rendezvous for the examination of enrolled men,' approved October eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, by reason of any organic disease or permanent disability, shall not be afterwards subject to be again examined and enrolled.
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"II. The Vice-President of the Confederate States, and the officers, judicial and executive, of the Confederate and State governments, including postmasters appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and such clerks now employed in their offices as are allowed, in writing by the Postmaster-General, and excluding all other postmasters, their assistants and clerks, and except such State officers as the several States may have declared, or may hereafter declare, by law,
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to be liable to military duty; members of both Houses of the Congress of the Confederate States, and of the legislatures of the several States, and their respective officers.
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"III. All volunteer troops heretofore raised by any State since the passage of the act further to provide for the public defense, approved April sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, while such troops shall be in active service under State authority: Provided, This exemption shall not include any person liable to military duty under said last-named act.
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"IV. Pilots, and persons actually and regularly engaged in the merchant marine service.
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"V. The presidents, superintendents, conductors, treasurer, chief clerk, engineers, managers, station agents, section masters, two expert track hands to each section of eight miles, and mechanics, in the active service and employment of railroad companies, not to embrace laborers, porters, and messengers: Provided, That no president or conductor of any railroad company or railroad train shall be exempted from military service under this act when such president or conductor shall fail, neglect, or refuse to furnish seats to such wounded or sick soldiers of the Army as may desire transportation over such railroad, and fresh water for drinking purposes, in such tanks or other vessels in each passenger car as may be necessary for the use of said sick and wounded, and also the necessary fires to render said cars comfortable.
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"VI. Captains of boats and the engineers and pilots thereof actually and regularly engaged in canal and river navigation; the president of any canal company, the secretary, chief clerk, chief toll gatherer, and such mechanics in the permanent service of said company as the president under oath shall declare to be necessary and now employed; the president, general superintendent, and operators of telegraphic companies and the local operators of said companies, not to exceed two in number at any telegraphic office but that at the seat of government of the Confederate States.
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"VII. One editor of each newspaper now being published, and such journeymen printers, engineers, pressmen, and stenographic reporters as the editor or proprietors thereof may certify upon oath to be indispensable for conducting the publication; the Public Printer, engineers, pressmen, and such number of journeymen printers as he may certify upon oath to be necessary for the discharge of his duty.
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"VIII. Every minister of religion authorized to preach according to the rules of his sect, and now in the regular discharge of ministerial duty, and all persons who have been, since the sixteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and now are, members of the Society of Friends, or the Association of Dunkards, Nazarines, or Mennonists, in regular membership in their respective denominations: Provided, That such members shall furnish a substitute or pay a tax of five hundred dollars each into the public Treasury.
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"IX. All shoemakers, tanners, blacksmiths, wagon makers, millers and their engineers and millwrights, skilled and actually employed, on the sixteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, in said trades as their regular vocation, and working therein for the public, and who have since said time been so regularly employed: Provided, Said persons shall make oath in writing, supported by the affidavits of two credible persons (which affidavits shall be delivered to the enrolling officer), that they (said artisans and mechanics) are so skilled, and are and have been, since the sixteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, actually employed in one of the above trades as their regular vocations, and working for the public; also the superintendents and operators in wool and cotton factories, paper mills, and carding machines, and in card factories, and in factories for the manufacture of wire for cotton and wool cards: Provided, That the exemption herein granted to persons on account of their mechanical skill or occupation shall be subject to the condition that the product of the labor of said exempts shall not exceed a fair and reasonable amount, and to be within a maximum to be fixed by the Secretary of War, under such regulations as he may prescribe: And provided, That in the case of the superintendents and operators in wool and cotton factories, paper mills, carding machines, and mechanics in these and all other manufacturing establishments, the manufactured articles shall be sold at a net profit not to exceed thirty per centum upon the capital invested, which fact shall be ascertained by the oath of the president, superintendent, or proprietors of such manufacturing establishments: And provided also, The president or proprietors of the said establishments shall make affidavit in writing, to be filed with the Secretary of War, that the superintendents and operators therein are skilled as such, and indispensable to said establishments: And provided, If it shall be shown, upon evidence to be submitted to, and judged of, by the Secretary of War, that any manufacturing establishment, has violated this condition, the exemptions herein granted shall no longer be extended to the persons
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employed in said establishments or factories, but each of them shall be forthwith enrolled and placed in the military service.
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"X. All presidents and professors of colleges and theological seminaries; who have been regularly engaged as such for the two years last preceding the eleventh of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-two; all superintendents of lunatic asylums, and the regular physicians, nurses, and attendants therein; and all teachers regularly employed in institutions for the deaf, dumb, and blind.
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"XI. All physicians who now are and have been for the last five years in the actual practice of their profession; and in each apothecary store now established and doing business one practical apothecary, in good standing as such
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XII. All artisans and mechanics employed in the manufacture of arms or ordnance of any kind, ordnance stores or other munitions of war, or army supplies, by the several States, or by contractors to furnish the same to the several State governments, whom the governor or secretary of state thereof may certify to be necessary to the same: Provided, The persons contracting with said State governments shall make oath in writing, to be filed with the Secretary of War, that said employees are indispensable, on account of their skill, to the successful performance of their contracts.
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"XIII. All persons engaged, under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, in the construction of ships, gunboats, engines, sails, or other articles necessary to the public defense.
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"XIV. Superintendents, mechanics, and miners employed in the production and manufacture of lead and iron; also persons engaged in burning coke for the smelting and manufacture of iron; regular miners in coal mines; and one collier to each furnace and forge for making blooms and pig and bar iron; but said exemptions shall not apply to laborers, messengers, and wagoners, except at works employed exclusively for the State or Confederate governments: Provided, That persons interested in the exemption from military duty of said superintendents, mechanics, miners, and colliers shall make affidavit in writing that said persons are skilled in said labor, and are indispensable to such works, and that after diligent effort they have been unable to procure superintendents, mechanics, miners, and colliers who have been discharged from the Provisional Army, or who are not subject to military duty.
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"XV. In addition to the exemptions specified in the foregoing paragraphs, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, and it shall be his duty, under the direction of the President, to exempt or detail from the Provisional Army, upon any terms or conditions he may prescribe, such other persons as he may be satisfied; with the sanction of the President, ought to be exempted or detailed in districts of country not supplied with slave or white labor, indispensable for the production of grain and provisions necessary for the support of the families of soldiers in the field; or persons indispensable for the police of plantations cultivated exclusively by slave labor, and owned exclusively by minors under the age of eighteen, lunatics, femes sole, or persons in the military or naval service; also for the maintenance and support of the Army, the public defense, or the general vital interests of the country; and it is the true intent and meaning of this act that the enumeration of the exemptions in the foregoing paragraphs shall not be construed to limit or restrain the exercise of the power herein granted.
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"Sec. 2. That all exemptions granted by law shall only continue whilst the person is holding the office, or engaged in the pursuit or occupation by reason of which the exemption was granted; and nothing in this act, or any other in relation to exemptions, shall be construed so as to exempt agents, clerks, or other persons employed by officers in the Quartermaster, Commissary, or other departments of the Government, unless such agents or clerks are allowed by law, and their fees or salaries fixed by law; nor shall anything herein contained be construed so as to authorize the discharge of any one now in the military service of the Confederate Government.
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"Sec. 3. That all laws and parts of laws providing for exemptions from military service are hereby repealed; and no person exempted under previously existing laws shall continue to be exempted unless embraced within the provisions and on the terms and conditions of this act. The provisions of this act shall apply to all persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years not in the military service. But this act shall not repeal an act passed at the present session of Congress, entitled 'An act to exempt contractors for carrying the mails of the Confederate States and the drivers of post coaches and hacks from military service.'"
The Senate proceeded to consider the said report; and
On motion by Mr. Orr, that the further consideration thereof be postponed to and made the special order for to-morrow at 12 o'clock,
It was determined in the negative.
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After debate,
On motion by Mr. Simms,
Ordered, That the further consideration of said report be postponed to and made the special order for to-morrow at 19 o'clock.
On motion by Mr. Orr,
Ordered, That the fifteenth paragraph of the first section of the report be printed.
On motion by Mr. Yancey, the Senate resolved into secret legislative session.
The doors having been opened,
On motion by Mr. Simms,
The Senate adjourned.
SECRET SESSION.
The reading of the Journal having been dispensed with,
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
The Senate resolved into executive session.
EXECUTIVE SESSION.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the nomination of J. A. Campbell, to be Assistant Secretary of War.
On motion by Mr. Sparrow,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed and made the special order for to-morrow at 2 o'clock.
On motion by Mr. Simms,
The Senate resolved into open legislative session.
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