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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 --EIGHTH DAY--TUESDAY, August 26, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
The House met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Seeley.
Mr. Curry presented the petition of sundry citizens of Alabama, asking that farmers be exempted from conscription; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, without being read.
Mr. Foster offered
A resolution that the Military Committee be instructed to inquire into the expediency of exempting millers from military service, and report by bill or otherwise;
which was read and agreed to.
Also, a resolution instructing the Military Committee to inquire and report to this House, at a day as early as practicable, as to the expediency and policy of authorizing the President to call out and place in the service of the Confederate States, during the war, all the male negroes who are resident or owned in the Confederate States between the ages of 20 and 30 years at the time the said call shall be made, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned--that is to say, as teamsters, cooks, nurses in the various hospitals, and laborers or mechanics in the arsenals, on railroads, in workshops, forges, foundries, furnaces, and manufactories of the Confederate States, or which may hereafter be under their control, engaged in the production of salt, saltpeter, lead, iron, leather, and such other articles necessary and proper for the efficient and successful conduct of military operations against the public enemy, under such legal limitations and restrictions as shall secure the owner of the property a just and reasonable compensation for the labor of said negroes on the one hand, and the Confederate States their services on the other, during this momentous crisis; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Royston introduced
A bill to provide for the support of the families of certain soldiers and widows whose sons are soldiers in the Army;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Batson introduced
A bill to provide for the payment of certain volunteer troops in the State of Arkansas;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
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Mr. Gartrell presented the petition of sundry citizens of Georgia, praying for the establishment of a post route from Cedartown to Bowdon; which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, without being read.
Also, a resolution instructing the Military Committee to inquire and report to this House what legislation, if any, may be necessary to authorize the Government of the Confederate States to take control during the war of the various establishments within the limits of said Confederate States engaged in the manufacture of woolen and cotton goods, and so to regulate the prices of such goods as to enable the soldiers to clothe themselves and families at reasonable rates; which was read and agreed to.
Also, a resolution instructing the same committee to inquire into the expediency of providing a law to prohibit the employment of volunteer aids by generals in the Army, and report by bill or otherwise; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Hartridge offered the following resolution, to wit:
Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Affairs be instructed to inquire into the propriety of requesting the President of the Confederate States to recall the commissioners sent by this Government to certain European States, and to notify all foreign powers whose consuls reside in the Confederate States and are accredited to the Government of the United States, that such persons will not be recognized by the Government of the Confederate States as exercising any of the powers or having any of the functions of consuls within the limits of the Confederate States unless appointed by their respective Governments as consuls to the Confederate States of America;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Clark presented a communication from A. P. Terrence on the subject of patents; which was referred to the Committee on Patents, without being read.
Also, a bill to compensate the marshals and their assistants for taking the census in 1860 in those States now forming the Southern Confederacy; which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Also, a resolution instructing the Special Committee on Hospitals to inquire into any abuses in the medical and surgical department of the Confederate States, and report accordingly; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Wright of Georgia presented the petition of sundry citizens of that State, praying an increase of pay to the collectors of the war tax; which was referred to the Special Committee on the War Tax, without being read.
Mr. Munnerlyn presented the petition of sundry, citizens of Georgia, praying the extension of a mail route from Ti Ti to Nashville, Ga.; which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, without being read.
Mr. Moore presented the petition of Capt. John P. Holliday, of Kentucky, praying compensation for transporting men; which was referred to the Committee on Claims, without being read.
Also, a resolution that the Committee on Military Affairs inquire into and report to this House what legislation, if any, may be necessary to authorize the Government of the Confederate States to take control of the various salt works within the limits of said Confederate States, or make such arrangements with the owners of such salt works as that the price of salt may be so regulated as to secure a more general
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distribution thereof and at such rates as the people are able to pay; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. H. W. Bruce introduced
A bill to punish persons aiding the enemy;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Crockett offered
A resolution that the Second Auditor be requested to report to this House, at as early a day as practicable, the number of soldier and other claims on file in his office for adjustment, the length of time they have been on file, and the reason they have not been earlier acted upon;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. E. M. Bruce introduced
A bill to provide for the raising of troops in Kentucky;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Perkins offered
A resolution that the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the propriety of so amending the conscript law as to vest in the commanding general west of the Mississippi River the power of relieving certain particular localities from its operation when in his judgment the military protection of any region or district will be best promoted by specially detailing the subjects of that act in such region or district for home defense;
which was read and agreed to.
Also, a resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to take into immediate consideration and report upon the propriety of completing the railroad connection between Monroe and Shreveport, La.; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Conrad offered
A resolution that the President be requested to inform this House whether the iron-plated steamboats Louisiana and Mississippi were constructed by contract or directly by the Navy Department. If by contract, to transmit to this House copies of such contracts, if by the Department, to inform the House under whose supervision and control the work was performed, and to transmit copies of the orders and instructions issued to the person or persons to whom the work was confided;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Barksdale introduced
A bill to repeal the second section of an act to limit the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus;
which was read the first and second times.
Mr. Garnett moved that the bill be referred to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to inquire what is the law established in various parts of the Confederacy under the name of "martial law," and how far such law is authorized by the statute authorizing the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in certain cases, and that the committee report what legislation is necessary to define "martial law" and protect the constitutional rights of the citizens, and at the same time give to the Executive the powers necessary for the military police of invaded districts.
Mr. Crockett moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on
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the Judiciary with instructions to report a bill clearly defining under what circumstances the writ of habeas corpus may be suspended by the President and under what circumstances he may declare martial law, and providing for the punishment of all who may presume to declare martial law without authority from the President.
Mr. Dupré called for the question; which was ordered, and the motion of Mr. Crockett was lost.
The question being on agreeing to the motion of Mr. Garnett,
The question was put, and it appearing that a quorum was not present,
Mr. Jones of Tennessee moved a call of the House.
The motion was lost, and the motion of Mr. Garnett was agreed to.
The Speaker laid before the House a message from the President, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury submitting an estimate of the amount required for pay for services of a clerk in preparing copies of the Journals of the Provisional Congress and of the convention that formed the Provisional and Permanent Constitutions of the Confederate States, and covering a copy of a letter from the Hon. Howell Cobb in reference to the matter, and recommending an appropriation of the sum and for the object mentioned; which was read and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Also, a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting an estimate of an appropriation for the employment of experts to detect counterfeit Treasury notes; which was read, and on motion of Mr. Jones, so much thereof as refers to providing punishment for counterfeiters be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and the remainder was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
On motion of Mr. Foote,
The House adjourned until 12 o'clock to-morrow.
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