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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 --SEVENTH DAY--MONDAY, August 25, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
The House met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Boyce.
On motion of Mr. Hanly, leave of absence was granted to Mr. Garland, on account of sickness in his family.
Mr. Wright of Georgia, by the consent of the House, moved that the special committee appointed to inspect the hospitals be allowed to employ a clerk.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. Lander presented the petition of sundry citizens of North Carolina in relation to the postal service; which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, without being read.
Mr. Gaither introduced
A bill providing for the grant of bounty to conscripts;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Arrington offered
A resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire and report to this House whether adequate provision is made by the proper department for the shelter and subsistence of troops passing through the city of Richmond, and whether any and what legislation is necessary in the premises;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Foote offered
A resolution that the Judiciary Committee be instructed to inquire what legislation, if any, is requisite to remove or prevent abuses on the part of those intrusted by the President with the enforcement of martial law; also to inquire whether it be true that some of our military commanders have taken it upon themselves to declare and enforce martial law without the direction of the President, and what legal punishments, if any, should be provided for so serious a violation of the rights of our citizens;
which was read and agreed to.
Also, a bill to repeal the second section of an act therein named;
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which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Also, a resolution that the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of immediately proceeding by appropriate legislation for securing the fullest legal protection to such of our citizens as may voluntarily rise in arms anywhere, and organize themselves into companies, however small, regiments, or brigades, with a view to attacking the forces of the enemy and aiding in driving them beyond our confines, and especially to inquire into the expediency of such legislation in regard to such States of this Confederacy as are either wholly or in part in the possession of the enemy; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Foote offered the following resolutions:
Resolved, That in the judgment of this House the true policy of the present war imperatively requires that the movements of our armies in the field should everywhere he as active and aggressive as would be at all consistent with a sound and enlightened discretion, striking at the forces of the enemy boldly and vigorously wherever they may be found on Southern soil, and delaying nowhere long enough to allow to our merciless foes an opportunity of devastating the most fertile districts of the South, and perchance of ultimately obtaining reenforcements which may make it difficult to drive them beyond our confines without an expenditure of the precious blood of our patriot soldiers as would obviously not be now necessary for their expulsion or capture.
Resolved, That so soon as the forces of the enemy shall have been driven back to their own country, if the deluded Government at Washington should still refuse us peace, it will he our policy at once to invade the territory of the foe, with a view to obtaining, sword in hand, full indemnity for the past and security for the future.
Resolved, That at some moment anterior to the invasion of the enemy's country by our military forces, it will be eminently expedient in the judgment of this House, if consistent with his own views of propriety, that the President shall make known in a formal and explicit proclamation addressed to the inhabitants of the Northwestern States the unanimous willingness of the people of the Confederate States of the South to guarantee to them in the most effectual manner the free navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to their mouths, provided that they will at once desist from all further participation in this cruel and unnatural war;
which were laid upon the table and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Tibbs offered
A joint resolution instructing the Secretary of War to enforce the conscript law in so much of Tennessee as is not in the possession of the enemy;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
On motion of Mr. Wright of Tennessee, leave of absence was granted to Mr. Atkins, on account of sickness in his family.
On motion of Mr. Heiskell, the House took up from the table for consideration his resolution for the appointment of additional standing committees.
Mr. Boyce moved to amend the resolution as follows:
Resolved, That a committee ofbe appointed, to be called the Committee on the War, to whom shall be referred all such matters in regard to the war as may be specially referred to it.
Mr. Garnett moved that the resolution and amendment be referred to a select committee, to consist of the Speaker and six members, with instruction to report what additional committees on military affairs are proper and what should be the functions and designations of such committees; which motion prevailed.
Mr. Chambliss introduced
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A bill to provide for granting sick furloughs;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Collier offered the memorial of sundry ladies of Powhatan County, Va., asking that physicians be exempted from the conscript act; which was read and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. De Jarnette introduced
A bill to repeal an act to amend an act to prescribe the rates of postage, etc.;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads.
Mr. Holcombe presented a memorial from F. H. Minn in regard to the loss of a horse; which was referred to the Committee on Claims, without being read.
Also, a resolution instructing the Judiciary Committee to inquire into the expediency of regulating by law the seizure and impressment of private property for the use of the Army, or other public seizure, and report by bill or otherwise: which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Garnett offered
A resolution that the President be requested to inform this House whether the army regulation requiring the troops to be paid monthly has been complied with, and if not, how far such payments are in arrears, and the reasons for such delay;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Perkins offered
A resolution requesting the President, if not incompatible with the public interests, to furnish this House with copies of the instructions given to the military and naval commanders at Norfolk and New Orleans in reference to the defense or surrender of those cities prior and subsequent to the period of their evacuation by our troops, also copies of all correspondence between the Confederate Executive and the heads of the different departments in this city and the governors of Louisiana and Virginia and the Confederate officials, civil, military, and naval, in those States in connection with the same subject;
which was read and agreed to.
On motion of Mr. Jones, the call of States was suspended, and the House proceeded to call the committees;
When,
On motion of Mr. Jones, the House resolved itself into secret session; and having spent some time therein, again resolved itself into open session;
When,
On motion,
The House adjourned till 12 o'clock to-morrow.
SECRET SESSION.
The House being in secret session,
Mr. Jones, from the Committee on Ways and Means, reported and recommended the passage of
A bill to authorize the issue of Confederate States bonds;
which was read first and second times and, on motion of Mr. Lyons, was laid on table.
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Mr. Lyons offered the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the President be requested to furnish to this House a copy of the contract for the construction of gunboats or war steamers referred to in his message of August twenty-second eighteen hundred and sixty-two, together with all the particulars connected with said contract.
Resolved further, That the President be requested to inform this House in secret session if any and what action has been taken under the act of the last session of Congress authorizing the closing of a contract as proposed by Mr. George N. Sanders for the building of vessels of war.
On motion of Mr. Holt,
The House resolved itself into open session.
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